VII

skin of your cheek
pulling taut

ears hinged
to seize on any
sudden              
           
             twigcrack





                 

VI

your eyes
blackly dilate

watching for the breath
of shadow
on shadow

V

step deeper in,
shake off the fanged cold
coiled in your gut

cloth swish
shroud music

IV

on the other side

of this darkness

someone waits

to taste your breath

between whispers

III

the lights of town

fuzz out behind

the slim wall of fog

your home, vacant.

porch light dying.

II

crow caw twilight:
the woods part
and shadows leak out

the scent of cold sticks,
rain puddling in your steps

I

summer's wing
has folded under the
cold nose of fall -

this story uncurls
a wet limb