Labyrinth

I flowed at my body's edge
She said, like a snail drawn to salt mound
Daring to be vaporized

When the ether denied her
She made a pact with the bamboo trees
To sway strong in brilliant winds

I'm breaking, she said, seeking
Prudence distilled from time's crude counsel
A concentrated effort

To dam the raging within
She erected walls of frosted glass
And insulated passage

Lost in her cotton center
I am meandering through murmurs
of featureless flock, she said.


A poetry prompt from NaPoWriMo


The first line is from Octavio Paz's poem "Release":

Beneath the rain of drums
The flute's black stalk
Grew, withered, and sprouted again.
Things cast off from their names
I flowed
           At my body's edge
Among the unbound elements