scraps of conversation
and shapeless memory
lay scattered about
before me tonight
like ingredients
from a charnel house
awaiting reformation
beneath my bloodied hands
I measure the heft
of each bit which
has passed
between us
believing
in my ability
to transform
these humble leavings
truth and memory
reside within the hearth
hidden in the ember’s ash
waiting to be stirred
until the words we speak
come fully fleshed
from our mouths
as if to devour the air
(May 30, 2013)