Respiration
That gurgling noise of partially arrested breathing
Blood pumping machines
Monitors detect the onset of death
Torches fires played shadow puppets
A small road leading into that town
From a house along the path a chimney smoked
My lighthouse
My feet shuffled forward, my body pulled on string
A small road widened into a simple courtyard
The peoples corralled by a circle of houses
Thirteen houses like honeycombs
The heart of the courtyard, a spring fed fountain
Most likely the cause of this oasis town
On its rim I sat, my fingers stretching out like veins
Ten water leeches in a state of desperation
Water under torchlight
It is likely I sat there for the better part of an hour
Before the honeycomb town became apparent
Bustling honey gatherers with faceless dances
Moving, shuffling, drawing faces, incorporating
I sat and watched as a hairless child drew a face
Its finger moved from tiny tin to face
Rubbing black lines on cave-bound white skin
A face forming, pushing from underneath the skin
All around the fountain honeybees
Some painting their faces alone
Some in groups of two or three or five
Paint pulling faces from below
Shipwrecks lost or imagined excavated
And I began to realize I was feeling somewhat ill
The honeybees danced and spun, painting faces
Giant swirls of frantic chaos spinning far too fast
Unable to breathe in this wind tunnel
Broad strokes slapped on taut white skin
Living canvases with off-center smiles
My heart beating more than too fast
A bacchanalian debauchery of flesh and paint
‘I cannot keep this inside’
My stomach churned, dirty wash and old soap
Water poured from my mouth
My cheeks reddened from abdominal strain
Gasping for breath between water convulsions
‘Please stop this’
Honeybees gathered, curious, attentive
Honeybees grabbed and helped my body up
Around and around in that honeybee dance
A silly rag doll tossed into the river
Water vomit removed faces
Black paint tear streaks like wet Polaroids
Faceless honeybees swarmed
And I began to realize I was no longer welcome
In the lighthouse, on a makeshift bed of wood
Strapped down, hands numb and tied behind my back
Wet and half awake(?)
Drowning in an oasis in the middle of the desert