Portrait by Dah Helmer

I gave in to autumn wine
beneath clouds of burden
waited for the monsoon
to dizzy my brain
Inside my skull
I found these words
drunk against the sky
But it was nothing
not bone nor body
until a hand slid
into my mouth
scraped them
from my tongue
spattered them
across this page
to portray
a fermented human heart
tart spice of grief
a freshet of old lovers