trophic level three (extra #1)

To tear it apart with the teeth,
Gnawing at the bone.
You have fangs, and I have fangs,
& they rip the world to shreds.

I’d like to take a trip down memory lane,
Down alleys,
Hallways,
Bus stops,
Sidewalks.

I swallow the sun, the moon,
I do every mistake just as it foretold.
There’s no going back,
Going home,
Going away.
This is what you and I have to work with and it’s messy,
It’s bleeding,
Broken into pieces, abandoned like childhood toys.

Fine then, I’ll be the shark,
The bold, the brash, the blunder.
I’ll make the mistakes and I’ll pick up the pieces and
this world is messy, challenging, impossible,
But I try all the same.
There’s no way back, no retracting steps,
Just go, just rip into it with the teeth.

Aim for the jugular, the heart, the arteries.
Don’t beat around the bush.
Broken legs, broken bones, broken hearts.

Didn’t you know? We can fix those.
Like the walls that get new paint and
the ripped dress that gets new hems
And the life that returns after a forest fire,
Brokenness is a beginning.

So I’ll make the mistakes.
I’ll use the teeth.
I’ll rebuild the brick pathways when they break,
When they tear, and bleed,
And when they sink.
You and I have fangs and we had might as well make use of them.