I.
In this rose balm nightmare ++++++you return on your knees, the flowers +++++++++++I bloom from the soil of my belly alive, +++++++++++++++++blossoming blue and +++++++++++++++++++++++billowing from the fold of your mouth.
II.
Line my gums with foil
reflect the backlog of your duplicity
with the bone of my teeth.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++III. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Every death ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I escaped ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++was for you.
+++++IV. +++++I wish +++++I were there +++++to have caught the inaugural
++++++moment, to have seen you slip ++++++inside of her, to see the early inked ++++++etchings of an edit I hadn’t crossed.
V.
In the grey glow of a new
moon, I revel in the ease
of this, how easily you
ford this river of betrayal
how easily you lick at the mouth
of deafening solitude.
VI.
I think about
The natural impulse
Men feel to just leave.
++++++VII. ++++++I think about ++++++how no one ++++++needs a father.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++VIII. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++“Where are you,” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++A breathlessly mute voice ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Asks, a shell of the inquiry lingering ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++In pulse, like a song you loved once ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++then forgot.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++IX. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++If not death, than a rancid departure.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++X. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++If not a lie, then some red ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++coveted mouth.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++XI. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Silly to disregard a medium ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++when it is already happy.
