Ruinous & Jettison You
Helicopter sky. The stars slit their glittery wrists
& what drips out, drips
into two crashing seas.
Every time I hear your name, I think how skin, cut
from the same embryonic cloth as the brain
& nervous system, gives away
our feelings. Warm or cold anger? Forest
in my mouth. I awake choking
on pearls. The room aglow with thick red
light, as if I stood in the threshold
of a burning room or under a shower of blood-
champagne. The last sentence
you spoke before
leaving, seared into me—
while outside the green world shivered. Love
like a maniac, I said
to myself, live like you’re doused
in gasoline & holding a lamp to which
the mirror replied, smile; you are in-
flammable, you are the night.
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