of the flesh
that has been severed
spills a soul
blood and bone
were the womb
where stays soft
yet past nine months
it rots
one might find
tendons torn
dragging a child
back home

my mother never cried
her eyes she emptied of their water
so she wouldn't drown

she was a poetess yesterday
and a beast the night I was born
there was no milk left on her *******
only vinegar and blood

she strikes me just to hear the sound
my mouth a shape she cannot recognize
her fingers are hooks
sunk in my cheeks, my thighs, my spine

her anger lodged in my throat
as I try her dresses and twirl in the room
to keep her burdensome corpse company
until the coroner comes
I'll tell them she's just taking a nap

I can't explain the rot, it's been there all her life

in the gulf of our desire
I freed the fleeting regret
of letting you see me dancing
and letting you kiss me insane
for the sky over the ocean
turned dark and ****** red
as the sun sunk below my horizontal faith
witnessing your unbothered death

the scar in the wounded ground
where your grave was dug won't heal
everpresent welt
meridian bisecting my heart

I've kept your cadaver in bed
for exactly a hundred years
wishing you'd wake up with me one day
but I haven't been able to sleep

tender flesh
rippled synapses connect
through ligaments and thoughts
the heart contracts
love coagulates
on the wrist a scarlet line
pools the loneliness at night
dampening the mystery of suicide

the neighbour can taste the rot
puppy whining in the hall
shadows grow thicker than blood
the moon witnessed it all