Beneath these phantom mountains
My bloodline slumbers, its ragged vein
           Piercing through frayed granite flesh
  Blooming across the map of clouds
Stitched to my heart’s blank canvas.

      
      I am juniper, I am lupine, I am sage
I am the lungs of the Earth, I am the
             Womb of the sky, I am the Mother of
    Ravens, the beetle buried beneath
The ash skeleton of a weeping pine.

      
      My mortal lineage lies abandoned,
Black blood oozing beneath rotten
             Nail beds, diseased, a pastoral
   Poison blooming, blood carnation,
Death lily, the dahlia of my despair.

      
      The drumbeat of the river echoes, a
Throb in my skull’s ruptured grotto,
             Larva nestled in the cracks of my
    Mouth, wings effervescent as they
Unfurl, I exhale endless existence.