Disclosure

Never doubt my devotion to you
I might say
still setting a tooth edge and tip of tongue
against your neck
you've left me once too often

Please ask me where it hurts
I might point at plaster statues
aren't we all
cheaply painted stigmatists
in our garish array

If you ask me about the swords in my back
I might tell you which one is yours,
depending on my mood
it's all of them of course
but I don't want you to cry

If you check in my left hand
I still might have
sugar cubes for all the pretty horses
red white black and pale
the blood in my ears still pounds like hoofbeats

Or you may see me sometime
picking black feathers from the ground
I think these will be important later
my guardian angels, I might say
some assembly required

My purity is transparent but clouded
a veil dragged through dust
some things are better left desecrated
or scorched earth
I'd make a better widow than a bride anyway

I want to crack open and bleed
like a china vase
scattering flowers so long ago given
they're nothing but dry stalks
thorns and colored parchment

I want to walk with you in dangerous places
and with your face in my hands
shove your back against dirty alley walls
my swollen mouth catching you
between a rock and a hard place

I want to close my eyes in the pale pink dawn
cooly twined in body memory
taste of salt and anise
and the vain hope to not wake
as daylight dissolves the tranquil illusion