Incinerate Me

These intonations, insidious like whispers,
wailing and screaming at me,
voices ignite like fire, its flames consume me,
I attempt to douse the blaze before it burns me whole,
words that can put it out get mixed up with kerosene
and I find myself charbroiled.

It took over, finally peeling off the sullied parts,
a fraction each time, scraping the flesh,
it stings, that broken shellfish,
sharp pieces painting an artwork of traces
outlining shadows of the haunting skeleton hand.

Blood pulsates inside, a hemorrhage under the skin,
yet it never dares to seep out,
let it be known the bruises remain beneath
more painful than these failed drawings.

It’s then when those flames slowly diminish,
like a hyena after feasting on a shank,
nurture it enough so I can go on and exist,
while I tend for a fire that slowly incinerates me.

It never fully ceases.