Exposed Skin

lions thick in their winters. empty chambers. as the elevator sinks. no one. permanent ghosts. on the tether of flesh. doing the obvious math. Subtracting. Dividing. Pretending the sums have leeway. brick houses. Determined to withstand the wolf. Straw allies.

Dead things. Like road maps. Chase us toward the destination. Failing the journey. Every choice a louder scream. Her bony pulpit. Whispers. The hard sway of humanity. As hollow as its ever been. Plastic blades to swat the blood from fallow veins. The empty revolution of want. Pretending to know its victims.

The world spilling in. a flood of circumstance. drowns the notion. of choice. power. arrogant as any assassin. Tracing her skin. A world of outlines. Too beautiful to corrupt with these tired conditions.

The zipper opens. The war presses through her. From heart to lungs to fingerprints. A blurry price tag on a broken totem. Everything for sale.