Pain faced in torrid ignition, burned white
and

Here you are again
peeling back the coy, ablaze

all blackened red, between
dead and gone and me

beneath skin and sheets
and you want me

in your bile and liquid
licked up

leaving what is left
to set on fire

knowing
I can never love you

but only taste you
dripping off your fingers

gaped open
and

blistered over, ablaze
in you

He packed the remaining slightness of her
tightly into an old timey suit case the same
color as his home made heart
to catch a red eye out of Arizona

Brass buckles caught his pant leg
as he ran, throwing him to high traffic carpet
made of things that burned
his face to slow him to a stop

Sitting up, he noticed she was spread
about in pieces again and understood
saying goodbye would be more difficult
than an old timey suitcase could be packed into

The man across the street
watches me leave every morning
I catch him staring at me

I smile and wave
he throws rocks
through his own windows
I would like to avoid him today

I do like it when
he grows flowers in spring
seems to smile more those days
his pill boxes overflow in Zinnia
reminds me of a wedding

In winter we shovel salt
he is subdued by the heavy air
thick mustaches and black beards
make for small talk
chit chat

This summer has been crazy hot
full of people scampering about
like ants under glass
trees full of Cicada - voices
in manic phase

Yesterday I heard him yelling at me
pacing in circles on his porch
screaming and screaming with
his ice black eyes, electrically peering
through me, at me, in me

I slap my face with water
bite my arms and pull glass
from my forehead
because it's summer
in my bathroom mirror

I just don't think
I can take the medication tonight
I'm trying hard not to look at him