skins in touch

there is a richness
in the mud,
in the slushy desires
of this body,
bubbling up
from the inferno
of an underworld
we're too ashamed
to call our own;

there is a richness
in the mess
of these carnal
wanderings,
forever in conflict
with our moorings,
and yet bringing us
to our wild essence
every single time,

as we are peeled
to our humanity -
as we feel the splash of rejection,
the taunting waves of humiliation,
the swamp of helplessness,
and through that to reach
the cusp of pain and joy,
where mud, water,
fire and breath,
become one;

and to be the ecstasy -
all that it takes to live
this embodied,
insane,
volatile,
maverick,
naked
human life,
where sometimes
even love disappears
into the timelessness
of skins in touch.

yes, there is a richness
in the mud.