so you greet me in defiance
liege and scythe
what prison days paint the sun black
my soul has rivets
like a crossroads has a spike
sky to snake
I treasure your strength
like a woman’s breast
what you hold by the ear
one hundred years of war
strips you to naked lightning
to writhe over the earth
lash the rain into the hippocampus
the word means “horse sea monster”
as though Poseidon rode from your mouth
to flood the battlefield with reef
your pores blowholes
the guarding branch
leash and arm over the descent
offering you the bowl of the sea