i heard her outside
from the hazy veil of steam
streamed red on pure white
bones broken by brotherhood
what have you done, who are you -- -

shrouded youth in dreams
silent voicemails at midnight
complacent lovers
rewritten in scars of heat
where we cower from the light

all I remember
as distillation began
is this can’t be you
green eyed boy, brown curly hair
evisceration of souls

haunting these spaces
this house of sloshing stale wine
forgetting first loves
stitching bone and marrow
until time grows clean unharmed.

x

this must be the place
where no softness will reach us
all you have is now
the pool between our bodies
stillness in the night