Hungry Ghost

When I came to see you It hurt me how thin you had become

In the months of addiction & disease & although your particular abyss

Was a man & not a drug The degradation was the same

The same wasting of the flesh The same tapped-out well emptied

Of the least leaf of emotion The same frozen rage

When I came to your hotel room You were sitting in a hard chair

Just by the window Half-slumped & distracted

Looking out at the persistent rain Then silently back at me

Your ghost your own ghost Had already come

She sat by you at the small table & she was so hungry

At one point she reached over Reached right inside you

& slowly twisted off a moist Wafer of your heart

She put it in her mouth & let it sit a moment on her tongue

Her lips parting in a way both Petulant & suggestive

It was clear she would eat All of you

I walked into the bathroom & at the dulled zinc sink

I rinsed one by one The fat spring strawberries

I'd brought you from the ranch I put them in the white

Ceramic bowl I'd carried from our kitchen

& without a word simply placed it On the table

Just beside your ghost She stared at me & then only

At the fleshy rubies awaiting her & ate until only a few

Rivulets of blood traced The bottom of the bowl & the green

Crowns she'd torn from Their bodies

Lay scattered where They had fallen at her feet

At last she seemed sated Placated or even bored

She barely looked over as I wrapped you in your overcoat

You glanced at her & she at you

The rain Still steady at the pane

& then I realized you could Not stand

Alone & so I lifted you up To take you home