Double Dark  

I

The ugliest thing I’ve seen was removed from my body

It was multi-layered different shades of brown and wet gray

It was a flesh-serving platter stacked high with dead tissue

I’m escaping skin again after eight years of recovering from

The last reincarnation of my ever-evolving soul and

Body has no choice but to come along and suffer in pain

Snakes do it in grass and make it look easy

I do it in medical institutions and make it look like

Civil War inside

II

Death is trying again to smack me upside my head 

Death…

She comes in many forms and lurks like a secret admirer

Waiting for her chance to be alone with me           

She wanted to sit on my lap and seduce me

I finessed her and slid across the lawn

I didn’t look back

Grim Reaper is notorious for how she sneaks up on me

Acting as if nothing is wrong before things fall apart  

She's killing me one two three body part functions

At a time and I adjust to losing and dropping things

She’s lied to me and offered deals to me

She doesn’t care about my life 

She never did

I know she’ll ultimately get her way and I'll exit

My skin for the last time but I won’t go easy

 

III

Reaper hid in fragrant oils and music from a black flute

A practice flute unready for a main stage 

A flute left out too long in changing weather and neglected

For long periods of time

I got nervous when I read the oil’s sinister names

Double Black and Opium

Ironically Double Black is see-through and subtle 

Blond and smells of vanilla

That makes me wonder

Why Grim needed to borrow from cliché

And why she thought that would allure me

Opium can be addictive and deadly

Its dark thick aroma almost lulled me

Into a painless escape

Sweet as maple syrup

Dark and delicious

Strong as maple wood

Music from the black flute sang with a human voice

And sometimes sounded like it was talking to me

I listened seeking understanding and clarity 

But resisted sinking into the duende of black holes 

That came out as mournful invitations from ancestors 

Who wanted to see me again and hungry ghost bored without me 

I'm still resisting

Why not                                                                                     

There will be plenty of time to surrender

When I can no longer fight