i.
when they crowned her,
her skin turned gold.
she glittered like the rubies,
like the diamonds,
like the sapphires,
like the cat’s eyes and the ambers and the opals.
she turned into obsidian.
they held her down.
they stripped her of her crown.

ii.
they were new.
they were shiny and bright.
broken over time.
they drank and they smoked.
they crashed their car on the 405.
the storm washed them away.
he said ‘baby girl
you’ll fade away someday’.

iii.
the city flashed neon.
the city was alive with sin.
we drank it up like nectar.
we were drunk off the light.
we turned into ghosts in the morning.

iv.
she was red
and she was blue.
she was purple on stage
like salome.
swirling in the violets.
she is brash
and she is bold.
she spits venom like some spit verses.
this is her
secret survival.

v.
they loved like religion.
their tongues unraveled scripture.
she wrote psalms on his palms.
kissed them until
wine flowed from her wounds.
they were haunted
by yesterday’s deaths.
they were haunted
by mistakes and heartaches.
they were haunted,
they were pure.

vi.
her perfume smelled of gasoline.
he didn’t mind.
he liked the burn.
he liked the champagne and the hurricane.
she liked the control.
the blaze that was her’s
and her’s alone.
this is her blitzkrieg.

vii.
he said
'babygirl we’ll fade away someday.
we are not gods’.
she said 'kiss me and
you’ll feel my edges.
touch me and
you’ll see my magic’.
he said 'babygirl
we are not alone in this’.
she said
'what if i want to be?’