Helical Ceramic Brambles

Slow decent.

Helical ceramic brambles,
On a lopsided daisy chain,
Spiraling toward the abyss,
I climb down them hoping to find relief.

They cut me with hard sharp edges,
And poke me with bitter white thorns.

I wish to slide down them quickly,
But my soft flesh slows my decent.

They should be slick with blood by now,
But the porous clay seems to absorb it more rapidly than I can produce it.

I can feel a welcome crispness springing from below,
But cannot reach it before my flesh becomes to torn and ragged,
And I become but one more obstacle in a helical ceramic bramble patch.