Organic Protein

Is hunger more than a feeling? Is it more

than the crease between the snake

and its tail dipped in stomach acid? Could it be more

than the beginning of something, end of something.

Maybe hunger is what drives the still

In the middle, the knowing that motion

is inevitable, that this pause may be

the only pause. Is it hunger

that allows for the savoring of nothing?

That spec wedged between arid and vapored;

the occasional crispness of forgetting. Do you dream

of empty fields? Does it scare you?

Do you love it anyway? Try breathing

a different way this time. Breathe in and in and in until

you get that float at the front of your head.





Do you remember what it was like to die?

Do you remember being the organic protein? Craving crumbs

of yourself. Facing the nothing like

it was an equal. A friend even. Do you remember

the hunger? The embrace? The after

which was all too similar

to the before? Could it be

touched? Could you open

your eyes to it or was it

shadow behind fire, all at once

less and more than it should be.




Do you know how

                                to return?