Leave-taking

man in shed right-angled
over bits bent metal unaligned
to body shrapnell 
stress-fracture
structural fatigue of the heartwall
weals and cracks you weld
bits you bolt together
alloy of solder/tension/torso
graft you 
a new iron backbone

face behind the bike frame 
hides pale eyes 
your flame
burns with experience/craft
learned on life's 
seamy side 

your twin/my eyes
upright noble true wind
birch of leaves and sun
my wooden backbone
straight in unfamiliar air 
stare
bent back bent head
I listen absorb 
your odd consolation 
feeding spliced light
throwing morsels from
life as construction -

the source that shoulders
my blue eyes
out the door -

to hoard your heat
from furnaces 
I can't reach 
dynamos running deep-in
on obsession's fuel
I know well 
my shattered mind 
wrenched heart
grind metal on metal 
wreckage
far beyond the need for oil 
or weld that you would give
if you could from that
unknown world -


the source that shoulders
my blue eyes 
out the door -

the rising sap I require
not yours to feed 
right-angled man
bent over bits of bent metal
from whom 
in this shed today 
I take my leave

previous poem