black box

look at you, glued to your shadows
black lips upon the tether
the evening sun went and you went with it
dissolved into the battery

the long-dead battery of artificial time
fixed time, space unhinged from black landfall
kill shot was fired, some crackling sounds
couldn’t tell smoke from the kindling

morning came and there wasn’t much left
just a few trails of cigarettes, and a black box
fragmented voices, and no aircraft on record

night musk

you belong to the night musk
scraped out your scent glands for soot
stood in permafrost til morning

there were no candles to light so
you filed your teeth down to reflectors
bright enough to stop the rabbits
dead in their tracks

no one sleeps in these caves anymore
the bears moved on to a denser forest
nothing but half notes written on stalagmite

gathered together a pile of ashes
fashioned some runes and a wobbly altar
you wait in the shadows patiently but
the animals know better.