As the Roots Undo

Rejoice, rejoice, a noble birth Rejoice, rejoice, a noble birth Rejoice, rejoice, a noble birth Rejoice, rejoice, a no...

Submitted by BloodShrine — Feb 26, 2026

Rejoice, rejoice, a noble birth A prince is born; behold, the birth of violence Beasts of fang and feather cry for our concrete rapture And if we beg to be put down Unto us, the most inspired storm A princess ravaged by her prince Behold the birth of sex and distance Two frail corpses, both were they His eyes were the first to stray Every tree held fastened earth to sky Concrete replaces every branch and twig as they were frayed Upon the birth of ambition The heavens filled our gilded vessel with poison tears Before we drink, I propose a toast, a final prayer Here's to the watchers in the wood, here's to the last days Unto us, a most inspired song Shaper, stop the music Halt the harp strings whose chords confuse our histories with textures With the disheartened chorus of a hymnal whose choir is the conviction of the starving artless Tempted by the feast of proof That this body, that this body of work has worth Uncertain as the fingering Of a chord torn prematurely from a piano's womb As we fill our precious lungs with concrete, that faithful shade A shaper's song is stopped short, a final breath, a sinking shore Then the only movement and the last remains of grace Pollen falling off the simple hinge joint leg Upon the final breath of a dragonfly A cardinal, lost but headstrong in mid-flight Cries for our concrete rapture Wade in the water, wade Wade in the water, wade Wade in the water, wade Wade in the water, wade Wade in the water Wade in the water, child Wade in the water Wade in the water, child (Let the flood swell) Wade in the water Wade in the water, child (Let the flood swell) Wade in the water Wade in the water, child (Let the flood swell) Wade in the water Wade in the water, child (Let the flood swell) Wade in the water Wade in the water, child, wade (Let the flood swell) Let the flood swell Let the flood swell (Let the flood swell) Let the flood swell Let the flood swell (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) The faithful say it's beautiful, it's God's will, let the flood swell (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) But the prophets have seen no salvation's impending (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) The faithful say it's beautiful, it's God's will, let the flood swell (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) And the bodies that break will just float down the river Stay tame, soft river While we weigh our faith, stay sweet Run softly, sweet river The fool who wades in doubt will float like concrete Come and, come and fill your lungs Come and, come and fill your lungs Come and, come and fill your lungs Come and, come and fill your lungs Come and, come and fill your lungs Come and, come and fill your lungs Come and, come and fill your lungs Come and, come and fill your lungs (There's so much hope buried underneath tragedy) There's so much hope buried underneath There's so much hope buried underneath (It's the same shade as concrete) Tragedy... Concrete (There's so much hope buried underneath tragedy) There's so much hope buried underneath There's so much hope buried underneath (It's the same shade as concrete) Tragedy... Concrete (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) The faithful say it's beautiful, it's God's will, let the flood swell (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) On the loudspeaker, sermons, and a parish descending (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) There's so much hope buried underneath tragedy (Let the flood swell, let the flood swell) It's the same shade as concrete Let the flood swell

Submitted by BloodShrine — Feb 26, 2026

Nothing's so lucid as the promise of dreams But these pills we found just make me sleep There's nothing quite so pure As the written word, my dear, so let's have ourselves a little poem Until the will to speak loses urgency Our animal indecency Until the will to speak loses urgency In print is so blase It's about the bell tower, at the golden hour Angel of the spires climbs her steel cage staircase spine Angle of desire Ascend the wrought iron One by one, wrung by wrung Is it the rising roof line that makes me feel so swallowed whole? Or the way my body barely pricks the sky? The same As a century's worth of virgin's blood That's passed through my longing veins, scheming To convince my aching mind That pleasure's got nothing on the miracle of need Nothing's so purile as meter and rhyme When you can't see the ground from that ledge This perch is so far, far from the nest Gravity doesn't grant me the privilege of failure My bough never breaks, I don't stumble into anything So I climb and I carve my initials in the bark With that feather I found, but it's all so contrived And my genes didn't bless me with the foresight of a sage But I know how this will end, in apologies and ink on the page A slowly constructed crow quilled confession Of my spirit to all of you, black waterproof ink scars the board Black waterproof ink scars the board So hot-pressed, pristine and pure A slowly constructed manifestation of to tremble As base as a bridge in a song And less like the poem that I promised you Nothing's so lurid as haiku-d'etat On sidewalks in white outlined chalk All I've got is this ink-smeared line With our voices in harmony The offering of a crow quilled threnody

Submitted by BloodShrine — Feb 26, 2026

Whispers invoke Whispers invoke the artists of this Tragically seamless, ill-fated tapestry Blistered, blistered, fingers, fingers Are tending, are tending their loom She collects the strands to braid Into life, logging the weft of an ageless, woven infinity Countless, countless raw fibers Fibers are clawing, are clawing the frame A woman's work is never done, never done But the final stitch has got to come And so three witches, slowly, contend, and contending To slice, to slice the very last thread That you curse, curse constantly That you curse, curse constantly That you curse, curse constantly That you curse, curse constantly But nothing's immortal And comfort is not guaranteed A yearling who bears our sincere passions Is chosen, frozen, and quivering Like a thread in the wake of a blade And so we compromise, so we compromise So we sacrifice Go Compromise nothing but that which secures a comfortable life Risk as the indication of a healing sacrifice Destroy the altar whose boundaries tides will never exceed Ignite the pyres underneath a sedated mythology Five decades his lifetime And his life's work is just fading scratches in stone Just fading scratches in stone, she tends the numerals Counting fingers, counting her toes Keeping track of the time racing, years wasting Dance to the sound of his weight-bearing, back-breaking Infinite ages, the length of this quilt's making And we dance, and we dance in the stronghold That you curse, curse constantly That you curse, curse constantly That you curse, curse constantly That you curse, curse constantly Do you feel this thin strand resting in a pinch? That's the thread that you curse, curse constantly Do you feel this thin strand resting in a pinch? That's the thread that you curse, curse constantly Constantly curse Do you feel this thin strand resting in a pinch? That's the thread that you curse An eternal patch on a quilt that hangs From a wall in a throw fraught with our decay An eternal patch on a quilt that hangs From a wall in a throw fraught with our decay An eternal patch on a quilt that hangs From a wall in a throw fraught with our decay An eternal patch on a quilt that hangs Remember forever 'til it goes away From six states away Five years of guilt postmarked four days before my escape All I ever asked was for a clean break In the first nervous light of the day Collecting the novels whose scribes sought to keep me contained All I ever asked (Bleeding) was for a clean break My dad's favorite novel on top of the pile In the self-conscious first light, shake the memory of his smile Igniting these volumes Igniting these volumes, I'm warmed by the flames Alter the deafening earthen tones Alter the deafening earthen tones In the nervous light I dance in the nervous light, and I'm warmed by the flames Dance to the sound of his weight-bearing, back fucking breaking Fucking breaking Dictate the deafening earthen tones Alter the pitch of his weight-bearing, back-breaking Dictate the pitch of our weight-bearing, back-breaking Alter the tone of your weight-bearing, back-breaking We can mend all the seams that were torn during our backs, slowly breaking In the nervous light, in the nervous light of Sunday In the nervous light, in the nervous light of Sunday In the nervous light, in the nervous light of Sunday In the nervous light, in the nervous light of Sunday In the nervous light, the nervous light of Sunday In the nervous light, the nervous light of Sunday

Submitted by BloodShrine — Feb 26, 2026

Hide the petals underneath that bedroom floorboard And they will wither without fail or success Put the people in the hollow box they crafted Bolt the doors and watch them perish It's a cautious descent So polite and pensive at first But the only truth is change, have patience Every hundredth year, a single breath, and then it's over Even if only for a minute, for a minute, it's over For a minute, it's over Even if only for a minute, for a minute, it's over For a minute, it's over Even if only for a minute, for a minute, it's over For a minute, it's over "So how did it end? Can you describe those final days?" "Broken windows, and resting eyes." "Can you tell us what happened here?" "They finally got sick of it all; they just gave up on accepting fate That was the loophole; they found the Achilles heel and managed to strike it down. At the feet of the ruins is a dormant structure. Dormant but breathing, still breathing. The wind sweeps through its hallways, echoing at the establishment of their caretakers. An exhalation of cold premonition." "Can you describe what took place?" "The shock, sounds from a hollow box. A corner to dive in. I touched their misery, he just went to sleep. An exhalation of cold breath." "The kind of breath you could see?" "The shock, the terror. Behold the riddle of the ruins. When a door is not a door. Behold the riddle of the ruins, adore." "Describe the feeling when you knew it all would end, in those final days." "He gave up. Behold, a branch will continue to grow." "How did it all end that night? Last night, did they?" "Fear, and a touch of their misery." "And he just stopped breathing?" "It was a single lesson, he just laid down, sounds from a hollow box. Just went to sleep. Dormant, dormant but still breathing. Took a final breath. He just went to sleep and just stopped breathing. A single lesson will be taught; we will all be taught. Behold, the final breath. When they knew it all would end. Still breathing, and he just stopped. Stopped breathing. We will all be taught, taught how to swallow bark." So brave in the face of all those roots that ruin To stand so tall when in fact in ruins So brave in the face of all those roots that ruin To stand so tall when in fact in ruins To face that corner of the box and dive in Just the sound alone of its humble breath To face that corner of the box and dive in Just the sound alone of its humble breath A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo And the branch becomes A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo And the branch becomes A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo And the branch becomes A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo And the branch becomes A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo And the branch becomes A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo And the branch becomes A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo And the branch becomes

Submitted by BloodShrine — Feb 26, 2026

Ignorance is bliss; no wise woman's failed to mention And surely, some kōan suggests, "Neglect leads to perfection" But the more I turn my face from the crowd The more I feel my back's increasingly compelled For the sake of escape, to turn a knife on itself A knife of relief, from all the petty insight And finally, I'll sleep, and I'll sleep through the night Bored as fuck with this street corner-cover Study of a face in a figure Surveying this language as a game Surveillance of this language as the plague As the plague Dimension of persistence condemns The plague, the plague Dimension of persistence condemns As the plague, the plague The dimension of persistence condemns This portrait of karma, crafted in accident Textbook seduction, minus the text in the language of ghosts And so we ran, like the wolves were biting The inhibitions of their prey kept them from screaming Scratch my back and I will stab you in yours So I chose to live this life alone, without the teeth marks, but I predict I'll have to sink my fangs in someone else's heart to heal my own Just a victim's split, one part for the wolves, one part for you But I'll grow weary soon, weary of this fractal code, weary of this hallway lined with ghosts Just a scratch upon the skin, a drop of blood to let them in Their words will cause the sweetest fracture from a stone's throw Just a scratch upon the skin, a drop of blood to welcome them Parasitic, viral critics, or lovers, like spirits mingling in the mist that we crafted A starving jury, let them eat shit from our trembling hands The heat for heat's sake on this Barnard block of Congress Deductively speaking, the polar of progress Well, maybe I put too much faith in the accident Entranced, we danced toward the ripest display of escape Let the starving ghosts feast Let the starving ghosts feast Let the starving ghosts feast From this flesh, from these bones Let the starving ghosts feast Let them all feast In this chess game of language Forced to sit, so I play all alone Watch the bathos drift forth like the petals From a wild-crafted rose

Submitted by MetalElf — Feb 26, 2026

Mouth the words to deny, deny the symptoms As in, "Oh yeah, I'm doing fine" As I've found a most endearing psychosis Somewhere out there, there's a thrill, I swear Desperate as I am, I just can't strip bare and bleed The only purity I've known But I lay with reason Found logic conceived in a walk with skin I sleep with reason, producing these monsters Under painted catcalls as in temptation Yeah, there's a key to be in But there's no shade, no shade to blame Waterfalls in a cool gray And the struggle is colored gray this day The caw of crows fills up the picture plane This is your picture plane in central neutral gray Absinthe to slight the pain This world's this worst-case color scheme Streaks of oil stain Stained the road he crawled on homeward Oh yeah, oh yeah, he killed the switch, with some unwieldy gauge Absence and light remains I lay with reason, so logic, and reap in a walk with sin El sueño razon produce monstruos When does this dream end? Now I've missed another whole season I've missed the fall; clearly, it's fallen On this land, as fields once green are ochre now This is no dream, trees have turned to skeleton This is no dream, roots teased and knotted Just below the surface skin of ground Stitched between the Earth and the sky Struggling to hold it down Sometimes to realize, you've gotta lose track, lose track of sight Blurring my vision makes it clear the tiny moving parts make up the whole The image is clear, a tower is built of my own pride I cry in the shade that it offers, the only shelter I've known When does this dream end? When does this dream end? This is no dream, this is the walking, living, breathing caricature of a memory Shamelessly, I cave in to temptation of creation But still, my only thrill is empty sidewalks, silent streets The caw of crows fills up the picture plane Our picture plane is veiled in central neutral gray Absinthe to slight the pain This world's this worst-case color scheme Streaks of oil stain Stained the road he crawled on homeward Oh yeah, oh yeah, he killed the switch, with some unwieldy gauge Absence and light remains Life is lowly anonymity In death, a noble pose, a Marat David Tell me, who wouldn't give their lives For such a soapbox to die behind Life is lowly, lowly anonymity In the space of a smile, I found sleep As in sorrow, so shall ye reap Reap the promised end to the struggle Reap every point on our linear path Reap the smiles in time we borrow Every harvest relies on the last Reap the promising song of the sparrow That they learned from the birth of the sea Silenced by the threnody of the crows Reap the fallen fruit of the dogwood tree But I witnessed in all this silence, one soul's definition of beauty And a backlit smile so temporary, facade so rich with evil history Cast in direct opposition, set to overwhelm his moment to shine and sleep Came out on top of what was borrowed, and found all that beauty to be still Every breath as in sorrow Reap the promised end to this path By every image that we borrow Every harvest depends on the past Subdivide in factions, our linear forever We subdivide our waking hours to sleep While guilty eyes turn toward a porch light Enlightenment is losing sight Somewhere out there, there's a thrill, I swear In this low-light town, when my shift begins, the streets reflecting Yellow, yellow, yellow, in the vacancy that overwhelms Red, red, red, your vehicle, the color of expansion Open up (Open up), open up The latter just a thought to thrill me Knock, knock, knock (Knock, knock, knock), knock, knock, knock The latter just a thought to thrill me Red is a four-letter word, four-letter invitation Now my head is locked in the direction of the Sun In the direction of the Sun In the direction of the Sun Now my head is locked in the direction of the Sun In the direction of the Sun Life is lowly anonymity In death, a noble pose, a Marat David Tell me who wouldn't give their lives For such a soapbox to leave behind I know it's all been done before I want to do it again I know it's all been done before Life is lowly anonymity In death, a noble pose, a Marat David Life is lowly, lowly anonymity In the space of a smile, I found sleep I know it's all been done before I want to do it again, I want to do it again I know it's all been done before I want to do it again, I want to do it again I know it's all been done before I want to do it again, I want to do it again Life is lowly anonymity In death, a noble pose, a Marat David Life is lowly, lowly anonymity Life is lowly, lowly anonymity Life is lowly, lowly anonymity Life is lowly, lowly anonymity In stillness, absence, sorrow In silence, I pick sorrow In stillness, absence, sorrow This night our journey's through the dark Kill the switch, kill the switch, a welcome comatose Tonight, we journey, this night, our journey's through the dark Kill the switch, kill the switch, a welcome comatose Tonight, we journey, this night, our journey's through the dark Kill the switch, kill the switch, a welcome comatose Tonight, we journey, this night, our journey's through the dark Kill the switch, kill the switch, a welcome comatose Tonight, we journey, this night, our journey's through the dark This night, our journey's through the dark This night, our journey's through the dark This night, our journey's through the dark As in sorrow So shall ye weep As in reason So shall ye sleep As in sorrow So shall ye weep As in reason So shall ye sleep

Submitted by MetalElf — Feb 26, 2026

This path that we walk upon Is the collection of points that the rain has drawn The rhythm section of the storm By the moonlight To the gateposts of the forest in the snow light We are bound for the portal of the pines Gray as famine On this path against our will by our main sails We're bound to the tempest until the sea is still Which compulsion will this miniature death tributize? From behind the walls of my broken, coughing tent, a formal vision But I allude to my helpless passion for the obtuse When will this night end? When the lightning finally tears through the mast of our sinking ship All the hopes of the slaves are betrayed by the grates On this coffin of a vessel, every note's another breaking wave Rejoice Revel in this vision A formal visitation, rejoice, rejoice On the night with the light from above Famished dogs follow slowly as my own paws drag me to a dock, to the last plank Where I struggle to deny myself the path that every Pisces craves Just above the water in the middle of that man-made lake On that pier, I turn my eyes from the water, like a mirror of myself in the moonlight And I cough for every crater that I could see On the surface of that coffin we've come to call the Moon Now I wonder if all those judgments that you made were true And the trapdoor of the solstice Is thrown wide, wide open Let them all sink, let them all sink through The talking, the spinning of a web, it's all just formal ritual The burning, the burning question, "What do you deserve?" The gazing at a candle to find calm But we all know it's at the center of the storm Oh, Moon, thou pluckest me out, oh, Moon I who have sat by Thebes below the wall and walked among the lowest of the dead To Carthage then I came, to Carthage then I came Only the most sacred crater will suit my burial Only the most sacred choir performs this ritual dirge Perfectly imperfect (Like a storm) Perfectly imperfect (Like a storm) Perfectly imperfect (Like a storm) Perfectly imperfect (Like a storm) Rejoice, rejoice, the prophets lead us gently to our tomb Dragged and bound to the grave by our mane, to our grave Dragged and bound to the tomb by a scavenger's tooth by our mane Dragged and bound to the grave by our mane, to our grave Dragged and bound to the tomb by a scavenger's tooth

Submitted by MetalElf — Feb 26, 2026