[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.