The ocean’s red and I’m sat here covering my face behind my knees
Hands reaching out in various gestures of tantric invocation

They say when the Buddha was born he took seven steps
And with one hand
Pointed to the earth
And the other
To the sky,
declared that He,
He alone
was the honored one

I want to dip my hands into His honored Earth
and while pulling from my hollow bone
Paint everything in sacred carnal colors
With my wounded hands
Slowly slipping into the carcasses of the animals around me
Skin on skin
All while wearing
A small crown of jasmine atop my head

Continuing to run circles around the banyan trees
Leaving behind footprints in differing shades of maroon
Because I’m not quite sure how else to go through

With four-pronged tridents raised
and pointed toward my soul
You said that humans are the product of extinction
Everything emerges from death
All little symbols of empty dust
Emerging from a dry wheel

You know a deer came up to me the other day and
With its antlers
Stabbed my lungs and told me,
“Here. Breathe.”
Why is it always a deer…

Pulling single strands of gray and blonde
Despite existing within an ocean of red
I told you didn’t I
About the trees
And how that's why you’re sitting there
And I'm sitting here
Hands clasped in silent prayer
Drenched in terracotta pearls