I feel fine. A stoic

ice glistens in

me now.

This ruby rope creak-

ing in

my body makes me laugh.

Unending rope,

like a

volute

descending

from

evil …

rope bloodied and left-handed

formed by

a thousand daggers pounded in.

So let it go, plaiting

its rolls of crepe;

and let it tie the trembling cat

of Fear to the frozen nest,

to the final hearth.

I am serene now,

with light.

Mewing on my Pacific:

a shipwrecked coffin.