[autolysis]

Kurt Milberger

[autolysis]

Autolysis: From the Greek αΰτο- (self) and λΰσις (splitting). More commonly known as self-digestion; the destruction of a body through the action of its own enzymes.


digestion

that universal process 

whereby weaker lives

get burnt 

that larger lives

might warm themselves by the flames


up 

and 

down

      the Filthy chain

it goes


smaller 

eating

smaller


eating 

less

fortunate


turning bodies

of worms

into perspiration

and nerves


the centuries long


internalization of the process


the organs

purpose built


but 

depending upon

the accident

of partition


to keep them


filling the gut

with hungry 

bacteria


e coli


whatever can be made to serve


whatever can be made to work

upon the lives of cows


bread


too much beer


each other, 

when the going gets tough


at worst,

their homes


themselves—


the body of consciousness


       will be its own consumption


    and, slowly,


the microbiome


will reshape itself


will slowly


       move on


in spores


in seeds


like a fungus


like a dandelion explosion


am I also every cell


that is


that has been me?


at which layer

can I no longer

look, feel, hear,

touch, see—

it’s easy to forget 

how much of our own body

must be expendable so that

we may live.


TIME IS RUNNING OUT

     THE WALLS ALWAYS SPLITTING


no light


no sound


no heart spinning


       those many teeth


inside the stomach


         that poison


           in the guts


condemn this factory of consumption


SPOILED MEAT


      first consumes itself


Kurt Edward Milberger writes and lives in Georgia with his family and a goldfish called Sarah.