waistcoat

the corset fastened around her waist suffocates her and her
ailing heart more than you can ever imagine, love
but it is by your icy blade
that you slit my throat
and allow my pure blood to pour to
the virgin snow
and dearest how you do not recognize
that it is with a single swift movement of your
sickle that you behead me
so as you cut the length of my brown hair with a pair
of rusty scissors aged finely and much too long
and with the instrument that you use to
gouge out my eyes
like a tea spoon used to stir so gently
the cup melted in fine china with
candied violets laid upon the saucer
of my blood you drink
my essence
of the soul you’ve devoured
that you guard in a jar on your windowsill
yes, i know you, miserable creature--
i know the way that you skulk and creep
around the garden
trampling the poppies under your strong feet
does the squelch of muscle overpower the nauseating crack of bone
as the world’s stomach pours out into the hungry oceans
the ones that suffer and bite and claw with their terrible talons
and gnash
their dirt-stained, dust-stained, foul, foul teeth
must you find yourself eternally trapped in the black glass that holds
you prisoner and keeps me in my own head?


for what kind of imbecile do you take me?
what kind of utter idiot do you think i am?
there is no fine film over my eyes, no!
oh, i notice, i notice
the way the whores and the scum of the busy streets fling themselves
to you in their dusty path
flitting their backsides and
fluttering their rain-capped lashes
to my ultimate disgust and
your most exalted intrigue
you, there!
are you human?
what blood courses through your veins?
oh, the only way of knowing is
to see it seep from you in the same
way that you drained me, darling
but i shall not be the executioner to inflict such
a gaping wound in your flesh
for you have bestowed upon me
a fine line of crimson in my throat
one that ruins with your cold, bitter head
and your burning, frozen fingers that weave in and out
back out and back into
my hair in the night
but why is it
that only at night do you approach me
why is it that only when i am cornered
do you come to me
shall i hold the lamp for you
the one that illuminates your eyes


agnus dei -
be the tourniquet
be the bandage that wraps around my gash
and stop the bleed