'Corporeal Forms' & 'Downfall': Two Poems by KC Bailey

CORPOREAL FORMS

Between the bricks whispers cling like mortar. Secrets

ricochet off walls, crumbling into dust. Beneath foundations

rumours rot amongst roots – poisoned by passion, hope

shrivels in the dirt, where memories decay under the weight of lies.

In the attic, dreams of laughter hide in rafters

with faint slivers of light and petrified spiders.

I am unafraid, for my mind belongs to another body; this vessel

disguises its true form. An outline appears after rain,

the changes burn at sunrise. I become numb as hours pass

and life bleeds with envy.

---

DOWNFALL

The dread creeps in through open pores

hooks its barbed tongue into your thoughts

leaks acidic emotion

burning at the core of being, of self,

fostering doubt

festers and feeds off uncertainty

It grins through pin-like teeth

that ooze black blood

contaminates the soul – erases identity

cracks open the sternum

to access the heart

twists arteries into slipknots for fun

Amused with his work, Dread

lingers in plain sight

biding his time

until the crumbling torso

yields soft enough to chew

and spit out

He remakes your insides

puts everything back

in the wrong place

attaches cords

sticks them down

with amalgam pulled from molars

When you wake up dazed

believing Dread has left

that you are finally free

you realise he has implanted

dark ideas that detonate at will

triggered on his command

keeping you on your knees.

---

KC Bailey is a writer, poet and visual artist from the UK. Her work appears in The Hellebore, Black Bough, The Tide Rises, Fevers of the Mind, Crow & Cross Keys, Amethyst Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, Odd Magazine, Dreich, Marias at Sampaguitas, CP Quarterly, Acropolis Journal, Nymphs, and elsewhere (Twitter: @KCBailey_Writer. Website: https://kcbaileywriter.wordpress.com).