roofers

let's pry the scales off the back
of the decade & call it a love poem.
men come like lanternflies 
& work to dismantle my face.
i pay them in tongues & tails.
you tell me you believe in change
& then you set fire to the effigy.
a whole town holding hands 
in a circle around a mother figure. 
i promise i am deadly. i promise
there will be a storm worth 
all this preparation. just yesterday
you asked, "are you preparing 
for a doomsday?" i responded 
"all my life." the ceiling that leaked
all kinds of ghosts. pinning them
to the walls of my room like butterfly
specimen. don't take my word
for anything. go outside & see them working
with their shovels & teeth.
in the school yard when it used to rain
the ground would be covered 
with little translucent grubs.
kneeling us children would
peer into their writhing bodies 
& witness the faces of our ancestors.
the world is a process of shedding.
you cannot tell until you see the skin
if it was something you really
wanted to lose.