And Because of This

Oh my pretty,

I have wrung you out like a rag –

and because of this

I am a shadowed wall you alliterate upon

and nothing I tell you is true.

Oval carpet, chains drape the ceiling,

I am backing away, I am breaking your belongings,

must I drive you to your knees to make you relinquish me?

And because of this

You have a bag over your head.

Your eyes are like chainsaws, or a strangling scripture,

you are screaming from the back of a pickup truck,

you speak through the mouths of road-kill

you tell me that

No one will ever love me this much.

You spread your arms wide and gears and pistons grind in your jaw,

glint of machete in your nostril.

and because of this

only birds could know the distances in your eyes.

Deadly cathedral

air of fish hooks,

and because of this

my body craves the rending, my body wants to break itself in two to prove that your love is killing me

and because of this

I say:

Just eat around my bruised parts.

But no, your love is true,

and because of this,

you unhinge your sorrowful jaws and swallow

me whole.

(Originally published in "Mannequin Envy")