Compression

Lava flows

in spine.

Pain strikes

in undertow.

SPOOKY THINGS

In the spiraling clouds. 

In the stalactite humming. 

The witch doctor 

frog man lingers

in the willows. 

A delta-glyphic 

half moon shines, 

crystalline, 

through granite. 

The big cats are non-alien 

in darkful fog 

and wash over outcrops. 

A cold branch 

drops into colder water. 

The big cats 

drop quiet like deadfall 

and the beetles turn 

the mountain grey.

*Or this version of the first stanza that plays on The Neverending Story and Stranger Things title:

In the spiraling-nothing.

in the upside-down. 

the witch doctor

dogman lingers 

in the willows.