It’s endless
Phone off the hook
A shark that swam away
but still carries steel
and will close teeth again
before this dawn is over
Receiver held carefully
as a venomous beast
A voice of propriety
brings the doom
Another matter
of lost strays and identity
awaits beneath the bridge
To protect and serve
the rats scurry to and fro
Blinding uniforms and tape
begin to ice the bones
Indifferent to tears
as the snow that fell
and the air
is a paper cut sting
Whip of a thousand wounds
You may throw up
or burst free of your skin
as scent smothers
this new normal
The routine before breakfast
They die in droves here
after all
or thrash and fade in clinical beds
Bathroom tile chipped as their teeth
Broken mirrors
and bloody porcelain
crimson on knuckles
A metaphor, portrayal
of the lives we are forced to lead
or did
To vultures in yellow
she’s a number on faded paper
‘missing’
All of us are missing here
She wasn’t just the shell
of a desperate, strung out girl
She had red hair
curling in the damp nights
She was more than track marks
her soul was smooth, unmarred
She has… had a smile for everyone
except her mirror.
She could charm the devil
or brings angels to swooning
Too high to feel the cold
She loved cappuccinos
She lived in stilettos and stolen bangles
She loved us with a fire
to light the moon
and everything that walked this earth
Another story ends
at the dead end of a road
I feel too dead myself to wonder
if these are tears I shed
or the freeze that fell to rain
