I have seen death

            amniotic night          blue-black membrane

      stretched from dusk into twilight

witch of Endor, medium to Sheol

while you attempt

            to stand          upon spindly bones

      awaiting the Divine breath

shade of the prophet Samuel, dead and wishing to remain so

      (Here I am! Here I am!)

I have tasted your life

            brisk     beautiful     wild     unkempt

      even as it unravels my bowels

Saul, first king, anointed of the Lord

my fingers smell of tamarisk

            burning bush ash and earth

      knotted and gnarled umbilical cord

the Lord your God, the Lord your God

Troy Kehm-Goins is a Puyallup poet and artist who has been published in WRIST, Post Defiance, Read Write Poem, Les Sar’zine, and Creative Colloquy. His work is a mixture of the everyday and the mythological, drawing upon diverse influences and inspirations. He has also self-published four poetry chapbooks, the most recent of which is Black Psalms.