burn the other way

stressed cotton gripped,

lithograph shapes move

incoherent blemishes

caught by tired eye,

already a haven

checked by those who love,

yet still cold

comes to linger as an

unwelcome friend,

that closet door moves

with slow intent,

tomorrow a long voyage away

and the captain is

losing the wheel,

wanting to send up flares

light kerosene lamps,

to see

bedroom ocean

hindered by furry forms

that sulk in masses,

stories stringed words

hung across the mind

cranial denial,

cotton scrapes

a loose floorboard resonates

without help

from human form,

as captain he needs a crew,

crew of rag and plastic

to his call they rally

corners become embattled

cotton pushed aside,

sails on pine vessel,

beneath the night

a warrior born

clouds of gods look down,

moon casts a charming glow,

a battle cry

loud inside a voice parents

can never here,

on deck face splashed

by waves of memory,

wheel in his grasp

volley and surge

crackled into the night

with electric interference,

lips once moist

with mothers milk

now bloodied call proud,

monsters fled

lines defiled and beaten

each rushing over the fallen,

he would not be wounded

he would not falter,

time a soft blanket

on which he tiredly fell

sleep devoured

and all this would be

a satisfying memory by morning,

but not the claw embedded

in bedroom wall