1. SAUNA
Out past beyond the field
Inside the birches
Under rising steam:
A small room.
To prove I don't exist,
To show that I am beyond
This animal form
And this lost mind.
Or am I?
The wood heats up
And cracks and pulls apart
The way a body groans.
I transform
And the stars show.
I don't think the world
Still exists.
Only the room in the snow
And the light from coals
And only
This
Breath.
I annihilate all sensation
(abandoned breath,
Hanging in the branches)
With the glowing core exposed,
Head first into the frozen lake.
(Into the lake, mid-winter
Cutting through
All waking thoughts)
In rain and wind
And blanketing night
(shown at last)
Standing under steam rising.
My life is a small fire
I carry around.
(coming into a clearing)
Glowing coals
On the wet ground.