A feather tickled your insides, brushing
light green patterns on your bones.
Paisley outlines, dripping paint,
enough to drown out distant groans.

Eleven pints of sea foam paint
spread out across your aching jaw.
I swear it clasped so tight that when
you laughed your lip split open, raw.

Perhaps I'm dusting for fingerprints,
so eager to make a quick arrest.
My nightmares spot you black and gray.
I swat through smoke to find your best.

I tap my pencil on a notebook, hoping
shards of answers will fall out. Even
if I have to fit them together like
a jigsaw puzzle, at least I'll know I have
all of the parts. I'm missing thoughts that seep
through drains inside my brain. They clog like chunks
of mucus hiding deep inside my throat,
the kind of sick you cannot feel until
you lie to rest at night and choke on phlegm.
I see you chewing on your pen and wonder
if you're doing the same -- hoping you
will swallow answers, ingest the right words to say.

You find enchantment and mystery
in abandoned apartments, but see
atrocity in your trembling
hands and cascading tears

A river flows through cracks
in my rib cage. No matter
how much metal leaves my
heart there's always a chunk
of plasma glowing just for
you. The channels and canals
beneath my skin remind me
to never stop moving,
even when the rocks
are standing in my way.

She threw up blood and cried out lava.
He poured some salt into her mouth
to heal and seal the open wound.
I sat and watched from far away.

He spilled salt into her mouth,
She crunched and choked but lived
I sat and watched from far away,
not sure if this was love or hate.

She sputtered, gasped and choked but lived,
a puzzled look engulfed his face.
Unsure if this was love or hate,
I bit my lip and sat in silence.

The puzzled look had left his face,
replaced by rising, burning rage.
I bit my lip and sat in silence.
I was the only one who could save her.

Blind with burning rage for him,
I couldn’t heal or seal the wound.
With no one left to save her life,
She threw up blood and cried out lava.

Promise me you won’t stop screaming
if he tries to touch your thighs before
your raw and beating heart. And darling, even
when your ribs are thundering, head exploding
smoke and clouds, diamonds dripping salt,
please promise me you won’t give in--
I know they taught you not to pull a knife out
Of a stab wound, but if ever you feel
needles prickling up your neck, know that
goosebumps can also be caused by fear.

The cruel cold sea spits out salt in tall waves.
Can’t breathe when I sing or I’ll choke on sand.
Ships sail through rough seas, black skies blur
sight of those on board. Smell the damp oak creak
from blue strength, can’t slow the whirlwind in the clouds.
Let the storm brew, then pick up the spines of shells
that broke and danced in the waves. Can’t see
the shore through the haze; look for the twist and turn
of sand as it laughs – look for shimmering jewels
and gem stones, and light from the lamp
at the edge of the reef. Safe from harm.