the pain file

in the absence of meaning
i created for myself method,
but some things simply cannot
be whole
without their requisite
addenda.

one gigantic filing exercise,
then, has been
sorted
to its finish, and i move
from drawer to shelf
admiring a self
replete with its
several
completed
aspects.

in short, i learn,
among many things,
a method by which
to shed tears
not into a well,
the depth of which
i cannot plumb,
but as sacrifice,
as offering--
a new way
in which
i turn salt water
to inviolate
phoenix
feathers
and thereby
scald
myself
clean.