The Black Starfish

στην Τίνα Παφίτη

I cannot tell what is the sky

And what is swimming

What is chalked heather burning

And what is music

What is the lying in state

And what is gutter barking

What is this shroud

And what is the crackling of vocal chords

I am in love with spider eyes

Ringed blind like monkeys

Petrol cascade on the road

Clapboard torches and this howling

Melted red pistols at the breast of the fallen mermaid

A highwayman of snow depths

Wrapped in a roaring cloak of coaldust

The black starfish

Stands arched and stretching

Walks on fingertips of hair

Up into the unfolded oil sheet

The white waters of steeled skies

We inhale fired cinders

We swallow our burnings

On iron-filed crab tracks