72. BLACK POEM

into the darkest octaves
my child mind creeps
black on black
white becomes
sulfurous gloomy blue—gray
shuddering with the
blows of underworld
iron clapper in
thud–mouth bell
booming breakwalls bell
fascinating horror
vast Gothic bell tower
in the sky
hollow and rage–shaken
black like rotten tooth
laced with age–blackened
ornature that looks
and smells of decay
intricate and sky–abrasing
ragged and rounded like a
festering thigh stump
wave upon wave of
deepening shadow—shaking
rocks the rat—streets
     cold
how cold it must be
in that hollow tooth
that gaping rot skull
brooding black ice cave
how high
     the lonely birds
                              and fly well past