today is a monster

you are the poem and you are today

and you are a monster. 

fire-orange, mind-stabbing, word-shredding, beautiful 

                                                                                                monster.

crouch at the gateway, less than a shadow,

undetected by the watchtowers of my mind’s eye

                                     you’re the invader within  

these ancient, impenetrable, everlasting yet

defenseless walls.

you storm across the page, devour the fodder

to your inferno, leaving scorched black remains 

of broken lines,

 broken perfect 

imperfect words.

you rip through the web of my consciousness, 

spidersilk threads swallowed one by one and all at once,

pulled down, down into gaping maw and

i scream

         scream

                    s  c  r  e  a  m

and you scream too.

scream through the page, my ink bleeds dry

but it’s alive in your veins, a black, black river,

that writhes and rages but 

tomorrow falls still.

memories shattered under your claw

mere shards of mirror, flickering in time past, 

reduced to dust and ashes

but for the last fragments of

                                                                                                 today.