drylands

yesterday recoiled

from all sense of self

pulverised my molars

one against the other

today smoulders

the volcanic stone

between

scapulae

words wild

sharp as kitten teeth

prying innocent from guilty

undiscerning

biding in the drylands

astounded

how love

how anger

can be neighbours

how one sets fire

to the other’s home

and the only water source

a hydrant

clogged

with seven years

of fine silt

still spilling

from my ears