my fingers curled backwards underneath your doll skin
i could barely say a word ;
my mouth was frozen
and the smell of your burnt hair
wouldn't leave the room,
the house,
the neighborhood
could feel your scent
and know your undying thoughts for
each
               every
                     single
                            one
of them
and
i didn't want to be consumed in your flames
so i hid behind doors
and old forgotten closet clothes
but you sought me out with
a heated chest and
smoke plume breath
---    your stony eyes cracked in half: they poured
        your fluids over the linoleum
and my limbs fell over each other
in a mad dash between your thighs and
   the screen door nearly tore off the hinges
before i had a chance to                                           scream

collect from my body
every memory you implanted
and every stitch you sewed -
i am no longer a person
or a living organism;
i am the air.
i swim around you,
feel your breath -
i am your breath.
each and every rib expands with me
and you exhale me from between your lips
,

you do not know i am here
or why i left
i don't have the answers
i barely know which direction
i       am                 blowing,
behind the trees you feel me
and inside your mind
you ache for me;

but i cannot see you
anymore
.