Dribbles

and yet with my pen i paint myself a beast the fissures of my teeth are cracked and bare beneath the beds of my nails, long dried blood finds respite. a dark thing full of pain, of poorly tamed rage

i am a blight festering and yearning for the taste of ruin, of infection my lungs brew with foamy lustful promises, empty and ugly. i cannot slow its vengeful spread. i am lemon and bitters. smoke signals and wishing stars. gnashing teeth and puncture wounds. choking and drowning.

i am writing a mirror to reflect i am bleeding illusions to hide it

they've hurt you, bound you laced weights along your spine. forced obedience.

show me your teeth, pup they have yet to be shaved, feel where they call.

has the memory left you? have you lost your howl? the nip of freedom on your heels?

feel it with me in your fingers, your ears

feel it all the bite, the fury, the loss

can you hear it?

or it ends in complete disappearance the girl is a ghost story as soon as she entered she left

i will cry and i will be okay for today but she does not make it in the end

Do you remember the heat? The wildfires that stained the sky orange for weeks?

Close your eyes. Do you taste the liquor, is it bitter? Does it stick to the back of your teeth. Do you welcome it?

When I close my eyes, I see the arms of the mulberry trees painted like wild flames, lapping and reaching. They made a tunnel just for me. The smell of cinnamon, of the wind turning.

When I close my eyes, I see the gentle spring snow. The earthy bite of juniper and first frost. The pine trees and the silence like a blanket weighing me down. They whisper it’s okay to sleep now.

I remember a chill and my meekly spat courage. I remember wishing the cinders never winked out.