Used Saltwater Fishing Tackle

knowing it could happen
never helps
one blow after another
striking out within
defenses weakened
worn and torn now
fragmented sketches of when
piled around ashes of where
muddled by vagaries of why
crawling through blades of how

I've tamed monsters before
climbed cutthroat mountains
steered the fogbound mornings
swimming upstream all the while
somehow those confusions made sense

is this thorn
the straw I've been holding up
will this knife
clear my pathways
can this last breath I'm choking on
bring new life

I taste this cup of poison
and smile
for I can taste it

always a good sign