maggots feasting on a butterfly’s corpse
    One time a boy kissed me

the ruined back post-bullet
    He spun me in his strong arms

wasp nest humming in a yellowed skull
    Said he loved me with fierceness

shrapnel lodged in a spine somewhere
    Told me he would never let me go

blood and water mixing in the sink
    But he did. He did

body on the beach, pale and bloated
    In my nightmares I see him walking away

wild dogs with intestines in their jaws
    I see glimpses of another life

the slow swing of a fist
    In those, he holds me in his strong arms

bruised blue cheek, uglier for its healing
    In those, he does not lie to me

one tear caught on a trembling eyelash*
    In those, I am survived by my softness