Coping mechanism B.13

We walk side-by-side with the phantoms of symbolism
our emotions stand out in cardboard cut-out relief
and we pay to simulate life experiences
so that we learn automated responses
when the real thing punches us in the stomach.

Do you hear that
when you close your eyes, shut the vacant vaults of your mind
that vague roar in the distance
the silent cries of the beasts of night
those interstitial beings that inflate you with an anxious longing
that inject with you the barest hint of the mystery behind the moonlight that licks the glossy patina of the night sky,
cruel denizens of dark spaces
that work in irksome spaces of the unfamiliar and grotesque
yet are somehow the focal point of inward ambition,
I will seek you in my blind nightly wanderings.
I will find your homes deep in the wombs of caves,
intertwined in the highest branches of ancient trees,
in the shadow of breathing mountain.