all teeth

I see myself as charcoal remnants fighting a dying ember. I scorch the edges of alabaster flesh, and I hyperventilate when pushed. A tired mantra smokes on this puckered tongue. I bend in fear of a beating ribcage; conspiracy. Anxiety, beseech me to a slab and leave me course for slaughter. Pause for results. I won't isolate the help.

The hardest truth is poetry; blindsided flash flood. There's a goddess of loneliness somewhere in a molded box. There's a woman barricaded in the contours of my mind. I want to learn a feathered concerto. I want to be the violin I used to love. G sharp whole -meter- C C A E sharp A -slur meter- C C A E sharp A -slur meter- E E E F -meter- A B half A -meter-. Snap three chords and play a hollow bridge. Watch the resin rain.

Smile for the weather. Kiss me in the heart of a Texas midsummer thunderstorm. Tie six knots and trust the fabrication of my seamless words. Spell check required, dictionary optional. Wet lipstick please. Call me Mi Amor. You once asked me if I had a poets hand, and it was the softest, almost white lie. It's still an inadvertent rush. I'm still just an ex-painter.