I.
What did you find there in between the floorboards
at my house in my hometown?
I need something to cauterize the sore between my thighs
incisors coming out of hiding from the inside
and I can still feel where it burns
II.
Everything makes me sweat
I wish the beach would swallow me whole
and spit me out drenched in salt
or just leave me to tread water
my body a strange peninsula
III.
My mother taught me to shave a razor in each hand
passing them back and forth between the sink and me
it took 20 minutes to get through all the hair
I never felt so clean
standing there dripping in small wells of blood
slightly unheroic in that way
I don’t know who taught me pride,
like the sin
IV.
I have to miss practice
I push and I push and the cotton won’t take
I guess you don’t even drain against the current
it’s just that I don’t want the blood to pool around my ankles
and onto the deck
I’d have to soak up the drops with my toes
feign another scrape
V.
Are there matches under the floorboards of our own homes?
we can scorch the wound with tears instead
the results find no infection
I still want to watch it dry up and slide off my skin
and I can still feel where it burns
my head isn’t buried in the sand
it’s rolling underwater
If you enjoyed this piece, be sure to check out Blooming in the Darkness
