Pompeii

Reggie Kramer

It is a broken prism that hangs above me,
But my eyes are cast from bronze.

Tongues leaden with ash can speak no horrors,
But fear has me rooted,
And I think I’m starting to flower.

It inflames my heart
And my skin
And bones
And teeth
And muscle
And every tendon and fiber and joint
And leaves me lying,

Breathless.