Local Image #116

21 June 2024

Self-portrait in red,
basic, fundamental, to the blood—
sacrifice, blood, redemption.
Neighbors.

A sharp blade sword
cuts to the bone, spilling blood.
Strawberry moon,
the red eye.
I will give you the red eye
that sees to the blood.

What is the most interesting part?
My carnal adolescence
or my spiritual gifting?

A shield around my head,
but incomplete.
Becoming a threat,
invoking terror.
A metallic luster,
a machine executing programming.

Why pay attention to this?
Something was interested—
grinning and crying,
a dark vapor
emanates from my mouth.

Lying in folds of flesh,
I seem to have a partial halo.

A chain around my neck—
enslavement to the man.
A noose, but incomplete,
as if I could unhook it
from around my neck.

Is that Mrs. Bosman?

Gashes in my head,
scraped-away paint,
appearing as gaps in my skull,
with a glitchy quality.