Elephant Bones & Butterflies

echo rolling hollow scream

rattling chest and ribcage

with nowhere to go

but out and through my fingertips

dread sear trails and tears

and through each nerve

a dying wail

carrying and burying

all the too many delicate elephant bones

ivory anguish and sallow shame

roomfuls pressed firm

into spirit’s skin

each pore and cell threading

quiet deep places and spaces for

butterfly hopes and hushed resonance

and old familiar breaths

exhalations relieving reliving

soothing tides and smooth caresses

each wave of touch a subtle garrotte

of self-induced resilience-wrapped micro deaths…

because this is how to survive

until the next scream

induces the next butterfly.