the undergrowth

I cried

Pure fat drops of red

You said to find better uses for the flood

So I drank my veins and called it sustenance

I screamed

Till bright swarms of bees climbed out of my throat

You caught and crushed each one to your bedpost

I coughed out honeycomb and called it enough

I breathed

Thin clogged cratered air

You crushed your hand to my lips with a smile

My nostrils flared their wings and sucked in salt

I thought

Every step I took brought me closer to my father's sun

You ate each sunray and coughed out pitch

So I pried open your mouth to see the light at the tunnels close

I bled

Big fat blobs of blue

You said the sea could come from anywhere

I dried up in August’s glare

I died

In the plum grove

Stained in the juice of my being

You gorged on ripe fruit and threw the seed on my grave

But the pit will root

And together we'll grow, we'll grow, we'll grow