stage one: autolysis all i know is that it is cold in your basement. i can't tell because i cant feel anything but the space where you used to be and the fingernails lodged in my spine. soft electric whirring and rigor mortis. there is nothing you can do about this, you will not forget this. you will cower from it.
stage two: bloat recovery has long passed by now. there is a garden of loathing inside of you and it has overgrown / there is a ocean of fever inside of you and it has overflowed. the body can grow to twice its size in this stage. this is its way of releasing the pent up anger/sadness/longing you felt as a child. your organs whisper "lets stop" and "im tired now" and (?). they sigh as they expand. they are at peace now.
stage three: active decay 85% of brain growth occurs between ages 1-3. this doesn't mean anything as the years pass because when you are 4 you will liquefy and when you rot you will liquefy again. (child deaths are always the saddest.) you will find someone who loves you and you will return the favor; you will give everything to them and save none for yourself. this is the riskiest gamble you will take / this is the only gamble you are forced to make. you will let this swallow you. proceed with reckless abandon because being cautious will hurt more than fingers on bare skin and flowers tucked behind small ears.
stage four: skeletonization why has someone who has been hurt so badly choose to live so softly, to remain vulnerable? weathering can destroy you, even the smallest wave can destroy the largest rock with time. maybe she wants to be hurt, maybe she likes the cold basement, maybe she lets other people hurt her because she's too afraid to do it herself. she seeps into the earth / i seep into the earth. this is not the place where we died, but this is the place we will be forgotten.
stage five: funeral lawn chairs / popsicles / fireworks. she stopped aging when she was small, she still pins baby hairs back with barrettes and cries for her mother. she stares straight into the sun / she is an optimist. she is soft, but do not handle her with care. dig your nails into her torso, **** her and cut her up into pieces and shove her in plastic bags / the lake where she swam as a child will be her permanent home. she will fall in love with you chained to the bed, she will love you endlessly and with every part of her, every piece of her you tucked in her mothers garden. i think it's time to sleep.
i love you, and i am learning to love myself. please be patient with me. i am trying. i am trying. i am