[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