this barbed wire earth

that claimed my

sanguine heart

and married tears

to concrete

grow the most

beautiful

flowers

how desolate

the frayed landscapes

of wounds

that adorn

flesh in ochre, crimson

blushed, bitten

a fleeting confection

A ghost dressed is stars

and spines

splayed in reverence

trailed snakeskin

in the garden, an altar

To pluck

the weeds of

your body

is to unfurl

the ribbons

of sorrow that

made them root

and cast them

to the stars

I miss you like Autumn;

sepia-stained

bedsheets that

carried us into

purgatory

upon wretched sea

That look

in your eyes

reaching out

to touch me

Me, once a stranger

to those eyes

whose lips

remind me

of the stranger in mine

I yearn to feel

your fingers

take root

inside me

seeking nourishment

sowing the seeds

of rapture

at season's end

May her wrath

be her love

divine and tender

her name

of fiery cadence

spoken by

the tongues

of bloodied men

who bask

in the heaven

of her stars

Oh bloody one

aching heart

of humankind

deep crimson

and sorrowful

jewels that crown

darkness, an empress

fertile is the night

that bears witness

to the holy touch

of ancient love

forbidden love

her tender touch

that bleeds

and bites

and caresses

deep, red rivers

that flood

from veins

down her legs

from your lips

a blessed stain

under winter sky

in barren field

I am torn flesh

of consequence

lain bitter

and numb

winter’s child;

the fruit bore

from anguish,

bruised,

yearning

the vestiges

of sun

glory to

its fleeting cruelty

glory be

thy jagged halo

I cast myself

in the mirror

like a ghost

birthed from

candlelight

uttered out

of hiding by

each flicker

the cruel crackling

uncontained

embodied

I am words

spoken

into sweetness

upon satan’s tongue

like honey

or temptation

falling

into

your

palms

for you to lap up

I saw many sunsets

cast warmth

in your eyes

and hold me

in it’s blanket of fire

and

bittersweet

decline

Home was found between our worlds

dancing

among the bare trees

that sang of death

soon to come

We carry the burden of living

like loose change

in the pockets of our future

cashed in

collected

slipping through each other’s fingers

How much I want to hold you

like a child

to my heart

How much I want to open myself

and let the blood from my wounds

make the rivers that run

beneath your feet

To feel your breath

cascade with the wind

down

my

neck

softly

Birch trees

fingering each layer, splayed out

in attempt to reach the other

I am clay in your hands

victim of unfettered fingers

animated through your hunger

that lit every star in the sky

You fill me with those stars

and seal them in

so that they feel like whispers

in my soul

I am fashioned out of deep earth

a surface of imperfection

set in stone by Hell's caress

A heart ablaze

a beckoning furnace

A great flood welling

through my veins

to water the barren fields

that break beneath me

that rest within me

that rest within you

you want me to spill over everything

The earth is my body

in your heaven

the moon is yours

in mine