burn what emotions were
left
i don't want them and
neither
do
you

so burn it! and let it catch
wind. let the ashes take flight
and sail away over
foreign territories. they'll land
and slowly be absolved to the earth.
the ashes will be fuel, to drive the planet
forward.

burn it all. i don't want it.
i don't want these feelings
this emotion, this anoesis.
i just want to go numb, again.

I peel

away the enamel mask from your hollow bones.
when the bullet hit, you

said it felt like “a glass
bottle dropped into a porcelain bathtub.”
I mould a

foreign flesh around a sunken cheek,
and you wish to still make love to woman
under a willow tree

and run into a tattoo
parlour to engrave moments across your chest
your breath escapes between your porcelain teeth

glancing over at the wall of borrowed expressions,
you ask which one will

be yours,
covering the blemish.

I paint a new disguise for you:
afraid of water
fond of caves
enamoured by hurricanes
down to delicate hands

I hope it fits

I hope to see you buried in this mask
and not by a second shot
through the skull to gray matter
below the surface of your skin.