Shiragami: A Poem by Donny Winter

Shiragami

Donny Winter

from Feats of Alchemy, Alien Buddha Press, 2021

The lab’s been vacant for years now,

but some nights, I wonder if the alchemist

responsible for my life preserved

my soul in roses, or perhaps,

placed my spirit in a beast’s sternum

because flowers never last

in the hands of humans.

Perhaps, my rebirth was the vision

of a desperate man clinging 

to the life I lived long ago,

the fever dream of extending

existence past its expiration,

a defiance of decay and the natural spin

of this torpid world.

In all reality, my body was likely the obsession

of a mad scientist, a grief-stricken father

aiming to make the world’s eighth wonder,

to preserve my biotic history in these hyper-active

cells: dividing and regenerating,

never knowing that I’ve become the titan he feared,

existence incarnate, a world wonder warped into wrath.