I am an embryo in a dark box
embroidered with the strands of my DNA -
distorted skeins of double yarn that rise
above the earth like twisted metal sculptures

In my memory or just a vivid fantasy
I am a blind worm
             crawling through the steaming earth
hot like the wet womb of woman,
hot whiskey blood whisked away
             by the sound of a heartbeat

my alveoli flail like living whips out of my cardboard existence
until with a sigh I am released at last
feeling the sunrise over the dust-covered land
opening sightless eyes to watch
             the tulips and roses and dead leaves tangle and strain
and cover the ends of the earth