Downpours

first came the body. frantic with flesh. an abundance of protons. clowns twisting skin into absurd shapes. an autopsy of emotions.

the prison absolute. the crime mutable. the atom excited. the child asleep.

then come the sobs. saline life rafts. to decorate the drowned. the ritual. the compulsion. to love what has been lost.

sour fruit. gives it a name. impotent predator. spoiled by its former fangs. the rush of regret. too quiet. scribbles its notes. at the base of her spine. infects each step. every taste enumerated in the telemetry of her flesh. small holes. expanding. a microscopic choke of darkness evolving to blot her out.

the hours bend to fit. eager monsters. wagging tongues. dull claws. artists carving life from the stones that mark the corpses.

the division is long, though the moment is brief.

then came the ghost. the nucleus. exposed. empty for lack of its mask. futile. inert. haunting. the same places it always had. flesh or ether. no difference. the particles unchanged. the rain. in steady downpours. each drop smaller than the last.