from Saw

berni m janssen

15,000 hoods on uncoiled spines with breath to the earth, chests resting on knees and sound in their sacs tremoring bones and flesh. Their mouths are empty. Palms grounded for the throb. Rising and passing away. Breath in the earth. Skins all silver. Reliquaries of desire, fluctuations softly. They are bent and bending in thought. Their bodies rise and fall. The sound of their hearts embracing. Cloak and hood veil their transparency. Their breath twining uncertainty in the neat folds of repetition. Their eyes revealed to the sky. There are no clouds. Words chasms. Speaking with fire, allowing heat to move their lips. Settling hands with the cross of determination. The inbreath of flame, a constant hum fueling columns of light. Straight. Straight. Bones and fibres resting each within the other, a nest of content drawn between earth and sky. The hum rattles. The hum glows.

berni m. janssen is a writer, performer and director of the Asia and Pacific Writers Network. Her books include Possessives and Plurals, Xstatic and mangon.

From: She’s Fantastical
Eds. Lucy Sussex and Judith Raphael Buckrich
p 175

Website: http://www.spinifexpress.com.au