Confined to thoughts,
words took on life
each word forming
images which danced

on patina-stained planks
like the blood
of raped gray branches
from an unrelenting storm.

I watched each scene vividly
as termites ravenously
masticated flesh
exposing a skeleton
with self-inflicted fractures

of manifested truth
embedded between decaying walls
that echoed around cold bones
and neglect settled in,

A prison of solitude.