The naming of the plagues:
the naming of avarice
the naming of ignorance
the naming of abundance
the pests and pestilence
the silence.
Floods and food and famine; we dream
a savior passing. Factions and fictions.
The blessed, marked with blood.
The plague of naming.
The boils and oils and ills. The blood
smeared upon the door; the spared.
The innocent lamb. The calves
and infants.
The wounded and the wound.
The roundups. The downs and the ups.
The sundowns and seasons
we bob through, nearly drowning.
We name our enemies
our friends, wait for the waters
of reason to part, to pass through
unscarred— probing wounds
to remind us we exist, hoping
to outlast these days of darkness.
