It’s been what feels like years since I’ve felt your skin’s gentle give
under the tug of my teeth and now I want to pull them each out.
How can I say Forever without thinking of the man who
crawled into the deep well of a cannon, shouted fire, and never came back?
I can’t help it. I hold my fingers over the flames just
so I can suck on them, watch the burns heal over again and again.
Our futures turn like a coin’s face in midair, and whatever
the result, our parts will be played out by paper dolls.
I smile for the first time since I have been reborn, and your heart almost sings.
Instead you cry teardrops of peridot and the angels’ mouths are open.