I will leave when mountains walk
And mountain giant obliterates me
I will leave though first I will be
A thousand invisible creatures
Vole and wasp and a little bramble
Who keep praying
Let me never fucking leave
And I will burn every angel
Who comes for me
Until all my robes
Are the robes of dead angels
I will leave when I have been crushed
By every tree in the forest
And if after my 6000 rebirths
I have no eyes to see you
No ears that hear you
And I am slug not even cute-ugly
Ok time to hang em up
After this last game
I lie down
You leap
Scatter your dreams across me
This poem was inspired by, and borrows language from, “Rune Poems from Bergen, Norway, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century” by an unknown author, translated from the runic alphabet by Eirill Alvilde Falck.
Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi is the author of DISINTEGRATION MADE PLAIN AND EASY (Piżama Press) and THE BOOK OF KANE AND MARGARET (FC2 / UAP).
the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan