The Tree; by Ashelin

I broke the plates against the Tree
Then tried to bite through the glass
Until my teeth cracked
Opening up uncertain
That their uses were useful after all
So they crawled from my mouth and dug into the trunk
Too fragile for the roots
Too rough for the fruits
Hanging a little too high above my head
No matter that I tried to reach
Wrap my arms around the body and shake it
But my fingers don’t touch

The babies trapped inside the skins cry
Confused that they're living
Hating all this breathing
With their insides screaming while their mother beams
Letting them hang and droop
Birds landing on her branches
Their feathers turn into fur
And their beaks eat themselves
Soon to become lips
While the hair dissolves
I don’t want to watch but my eyes stay
Centered on this piece of evolution
He’s a man but his parts are crawling back
Inside himself
He’s frightened
As his legs follow
His body and his arms
Until he’s only inversion
A vacuum

But the babes are safe again

I’m puking and the Tree is eating it
All the good things rushing out of me
Glowing into forsaken things
There’s no wind but the limbs shiver and sing
The leaves are bending and melting
And soon it’s raining waste
I’m covered in the discharge but I can’t complain
Recalling my questioning
I’d asked for it

I’m naked now
Still waiting
Lounging on a groundless place where the plants grow
Upside-down
Watching through the peephole in my floor
As the roots take bloom
Entwining each other I know the are courting
Enticing themselves though they know they're fruitless
No egg and no seeds
No feeding babies on a hot July night
Or listening to children scream
They’re colorless
And I’m human so I love their lust
My lips try to smile but I know they won’t
So it’s up to my eyes instead

My body rolls over
The Mother wants to hate me
Hurt and disappoint me
But the little ones are worth more
So she drops them
Round and fragile onto my fake earth
Until their sacs tear
And all the zombie fingers move
Eyes blind and yet they see me
Feel me and want me
So much so that soon they eat me
And my bones are licked clean
I’m not ghost just soaked
Inside their bloodless gut
Not a soul
No longer a body
Just meat

The Tree
Mother
They call to her and sing
Devil
The roots scream
Like some orgasm cry for mercy
I’m silent
Because she has my teeth
And the children have my body
And the roots don’t have anything

But they didn’t care in the first place