caged sunlight
I was desperate
for another start
to bleed through
and renew
my contract with life
lizards flick
at the corners
of my vision
not quite snakes
but shedding something
a tail, a skin, a bad memory
an addiction, and
the crows call my name
when I pass
beneath the trees
another day forced awake
to meet desires
shucked off
like shoes
like socks
like trauma
like the stumps of his fingers
which set off a gleam of
peculiar-memory
wanting to remove
one digit
trim the top-third
of my ring finger
maybe I was crazier
than I ever knew
bleed out
grow
don’t forget
to
move through
weird-warm pockets of air
on the headland
is it
enlightenment, also?