Shadows flicker upon the wall

Shadows flicker upon the wall

Hungry flames

Devour me

One bite at a time

My lungs are the bellows

Feeding the fire

With excess oxygen

Still black

From the old days

Coal tar cast offs

Distorted surfaces

Bubbling beneath the woodchip

Open cracks, cobwebbing

In a blister pack

Where do spiders hide in winter

When the snow falls

There is a nip in the air

Sharp enough

To crack a skull

Condensation on a window

Is a giveaway

On a cold day

The duvet is more like home

Than an escape pod

There is no reason to move

Beyond the discarding

Of dead skin

Perhaps I have outgrown

Myself

Like a serpent, a constrictor

Or am I the spider

Who ate the fly

An exoskeleton

With nothing but

Emptiness on the inside

There is no fire

No searing heat

Or burning promise

Not here, not now

Alone

In a timepiece

A stillness

Of broken clocks

And smoke signals,

Snuffed out, by candlelight