Guardians
Sarah Ermold
a coyote guards my conscience,
chasing rabbits across the soft tissue of my brain
to protect the angel and the devil on my shoulders.
the devil's perspective intrigues the rabbits.
he has a way of gripping the truth
twisting it into lies,
the compulsion driving my body into overload
exciting them.
a hunter protects my emotions,
hunting rabbits that come near
the dam he's worked so hard to build.
the gun held close to his chest
his finger on the trigger,
he keeps it loaded,
ready for a stray rabbit to come close.
the rabbits hop around my senses
mixing them up
to confuse the hunter and the coyote,
they want the dam to break.
to shake hands with the devil,
to get back at the creatures guarding my inner-self,
my alter-personality the world never sees.
the rabbits consume me.
the hundreds of them hopping around my mind
they know me more than i know myself.
my own little world
guarded by the creatures of my mind
i wouldn't want them to know what other creatures lurk in my brain,
the ones they don't see
the ones i keep concealed even from myself.
i wouldn't want to be left to discover them myself.
when the hunter shoots the rabbit.
when the dam breaks
and the coyote drowns,
when the devil holds my brain in his hand,
the pink soft tissue becoming grey
as his soul seeps into my brain.