I Dreamed My Genesis

I dreamed my genesis in sweat of sleep， breaking

　　Through the rotating shell， strong

　　As motor muscle on the drill， driving

　　Through vision and the girdered nerve.

　　From limbs that had the measure of the worm， shuffled¹

　　Off from the creasing² flesh， filed

　　Through all the irons in the grass， metal

　　Of suns in the man-melting night.

　　Heir to the scalding veins³ that hold love's drop， costly⁴

　　A creature in my bones I

　　Rounded my globe of heritage， journey

　　In bottom gear through night-geared man.

　　I dreamed my genesis and died again， shrapnel

　　Rammed⁵ in the marching heart， hole

　　In the stitched wound and clotted⁶ wind， muzzled⁷

　　Death on the mouth that ate the gas.

　　Sharp in my second death I marked the hills， harvest

　　Of hemlock⁸ and the blades， rust⁹

　　My blood upon the tempered dead， forcing

　　My second struggling from the grass.

　　And power was contagious¹⁰ in my birth， second

　　Rise of the skeleton and

　　Rerobing of the naked ghost. Manhood

　　Spat¹¹ up from the resuffered pain.

　　I dreamed my genesis in sweat of death， fallen

　　Twice in the feeding sea， grown

　　Stale of Adam's brine until， vision

　　Of new man strength， I seek the sun.