stomach lake

i buy a boat & let it rot 
in the front yard. there is a lake
i visit full of worms & jellyfish.
we drive past my childhood church
& it looks smaller than i remember it.
the mary statue is eroding. soon it will be
mary magdelene then it will be 
my grandmother with her bones
like old spoons. once my father tended
the garden there. we ate hoagies in 
that shade of the hill trees. my stomach
was a lake of sharks. hunger always 
like an open window blowing papers
across the room. i ate like a snake.
swallow the mouse whole & hope
it gives me what i need. i lay on the floor
in the living room before
anyone else is awake. i dream of a place
i could go to avoid all my organs.
they float like balloons in the air. it is
just me & my ribs. get rid of the blood too
while you're at it. there is a diving school
strangely located in the farmland.
i imagine them knocking on my door
at night in search of a place to swim.
they choose my body. i let them in because
at this point who hasn't swam here?
i would ask them to look & see if there are
any wedding rings or maybe a penny 
at the bottom. i am told by some lovers
that i have great natural resources. i try 
my best to hide them. the salmon & the lamprey.
they have been taken so many times. please,
i need what i have left. i run the sink hot
& roast my hands like lobsters. i am having
a feast without my stomach. i am going
to eat just like the butterflies do. a corridor 
of sugar. the sun, a citrus moon.