Anointment

A poem

Image by Ahmad Odeh via Unsplash

Breath leaves me in black smoke rings,
Landmines scream, “mine,”
detonate beneath my skin.
My tongue folds, bites itself.
Lips split into quarters;
which piece of me is not yours?

My psyche is an arsonist.
She stifles a grin and torches secret corridors —
goosebumps in passing, at the brush of arms.

I scribble a goodbye letter
that rustles against your lips.
You answer it with
a kiss
flickering in the night
once I shut the blinds
and drift into myself.

Try as I might to sieve you
from my bloodstream,
your presence is infinitesimal
— and it stains,
marks me in places I am too human, too brief, to reach.
To bleed you out now is to purge myself
whole.

Thank you for reading and for being here. 🌹