rebirth place

dreamscape scorched
charred remnants of what if
washed colors of could have been
acrid odor of burned feathers
tang of overcooked flesh
befouled air
crater pitch black
sand turned glass
desolation sentenced without trial
wind stirring sodden ash
storm’s last torn aspect
racing across surreal sky
what happened here?

a burial site
a ceremony of fire
a sacrificial rite
death hidden behind flame
only cinder left
black
crumbling
chalky
crushed under foot
of investigation
by the detached
by the reasonable
by those requiring answers

noxious fumes
smoldering nearby green brush
devastation so complete
at the center the black
the perfect mound of black
thick, coarse ash,
no hint of animal or creature
reduced to nothing
in a bowl of vast nowhere

sulfurous fumes leak from soil
ground rolling and heaving
herald of something rising
scarlet of long spent ember
glowing back to life
amid the blackscape
amid the monochromatic display
amid the mystery of how and why
bubbling hellfire disturbing earth
a portal to below, beyond
breathing through cracked soil
rising, falling, heaving, concaving,
rising, falling, heaving, concaving,
rotten stench, putrid death,
ominous mass birthing from that which is not
breathing, rising, falling, begetting,
swelling, birthing, rising, falling,
heaving, cracking baked earth aside

the explosion of flight
reborn and brilliant
radiant plumage spread wide,
scream drawing blood from ear,
great wingspan scouring,
erasing birthplace,
the phoenix spawned in hell,
anointed by unquenchable flame,
airbrushed with diabolical scenes
on silken feathers gleaming
carried by earth,
nurtured by its own decay,
reliving, replaying, repaying,
distancing, learning, seeing,
breathing and bursting
free of its host once again.

taking flight,
mounting gales upon wings of flame
tongues of fire flicker and simmer
smolder, settle to gossamer feather,
a wilderness untouched
a vastness never understood
a height that cannot be reached
a stronghold that will never be breached
a vision beheld
everything that should not be
but is

she is new
she is pure
old spoiled meat seared away
bone turned dust
feather devoured
life expired
belched from earth
hell having no further use of a bird
earth unwilling to burn with her taint
only the sky has courage to take her
she takes per place above
perches upon her otherworldly throne
preens that which makes her fantasy
horror
vision
monster
beauty
beast
forever dying
forever rising
she is come again
as she came before
trapped above a world
where she has no home