standalone poem

ossuary

The signal pulses
a dull throb
in a desert of ground bone

the cathedral
its spine a kind of rigging
against a sky of quietly
turning ochre and rust.

It breathes

A rumor of ghosts.
The scent of lemongrass
and burned hair.

Once, one statue held out
what might have been a hand,
or a bird’s wing, charred.

It held what might have been a piece
of fruit, or a gear
that has stopped turning.

A case of contact
inhibition on a scale
of kilometers.

No answer static
rising from the ossuary.