The Jungle Within

I burn where the wild things grow.

Not above the earth, but under your ribs—

in the humid dark where instinct sleeps

and vines remember the shape of your breath.

Every color here is awake.

Every shadow is listening.

Roots pulse with old heat,

branches curl toward the spark

you try to hide.

But I feel it.

I always feel it.

I move through you like a quiet blaze,

sliding between leaves and longing,

igniting the places

you call too strange,

too alive,

too much.

Nothing is too much for me.

I am the flame at the center

of your overgrown heart—

the light that makes the forest

finally tell the truth.

Step inside.

Let the canopy close behind you.

In this heat,

in this thrum,

you will remember:

the wild was never outside you.

It was always you.

Mixed Media on Canvas 

48" x 60" (121 x 152 cm) 

2019