Pyramid Head

The geometry of my skull
flowers in                              three angles.
                   Some alien hand
           must have drafted the lines:
                                                       Too straight and clean
                                                       to have been pencilled in by five fingers.
 
If I open my mouth wide enough,
I can feel a beam of light                 shine
                                   into the antechamber
                      where dead kings stuffed with sawdust
                                             slumber on top of beds of gold and linen.
 
                      Their servants and concubines,
                                  piled up on top of each other             like firewood,
                       rest at the bottom of my stomach.
 
Late at night,
           I lie on the sand.
           I watch the Moon fill               its sails
                                  with the breath of cats
while I trace the outlines of birds and ankhs,
                  carved into the walls of my gums,
                                         with my tongue.

Ashley Naftule is a writer and theater artist from Phoenix, AZ. He's been published in Vice, Ghost City Press, Phoenix New Times, Bandcamp, Occulum, The Hard Times, Ellipsis, Under The Radar, Mojave Heart, Rinky Dink Press, L'Ephemere Review, Four Chambers Press, Amethyst Review, Hypnopomp, and The Outline. He's a resident playwright and Associate Artistic Director at Space55 theatre.