I tried to tint my hair red to light this night
But it is dull and stringing out amidst my plant-stained fingers
I tried to dissolve away the lines upon my skin to glow with luminosity
But they are wedged deep and have left gouges of pin-****** behind
I tried to exhume the dead and the dry from my face to better breathe
But instead it filmed over stinging and suffocates

I tried to forget you in order to be free of this
But I am not cleaned of you so easily.

I like to take hot showers.
I spend hours standing in place,
with the heavy strings of wet heat beating down my face to my feet.
Soothing. Sometimes I’m brooding,
but this eludes once I meet quietude.
A hot shower is a forgiving mother’s embrace,
liquid form of sweetest praise,
and the warmest lover’s lace.
A hot shower will wash me clean of your ways.