Cocktail strangers sit at the banquet table
make some polite dinner conversation,
quite by chance, forbidden topics are introduced
and long sharp fangs come out of hiding,
then gorging ourselves on one another
like vampires feasting in daylight hours
we spit out kernels of truth
choke on what is denied,
vomiting the hideous curse of human hunger
like self-indulgent vultures
picking, picking on the curvature of scabs
and lightning ligaments
like libertine lies learned in the cradle and the womb

friends look to each other without raising
even an eyebrow,
the host yanks off blood-soaked tablecloths,
not a dish or glass, fork or spoon is disturbed
but all the knives form a strange alliance, dance
in mid-air with the daggers of Caesar's betrayal and arrows
tipped with the poison of deliverance.

And the bones, the bones are always left behind.
Their marrow
wasted but we are blessed.without a cure.