Kind Monster

choosing the numbers. templates of when. how it was old. before it was young. how it was lost. before I'd ever found it. the sequence like magic. reverses every consequence. until we are nothing. robbed of each of the moments that decided they would become us.

egg shells in the omelet. bones in the sauce. what we take to make things happen always takes back.

simple bridges. the division of want. sticks on the ocean's surface. just trying to stay afloat. the simple geometry of skin. shapes measured by lines and corners. empty sums for what we are.

mild fevers. the spoils of evolution. nervous time machines. the stubborn promise of flesh. tired pawns in the shadow of the queen.

tired games stealing from the darkness. bright fists. hollow punches. flirt with the mirrors. the world is singing, but no one dances.

life makes us. in hammers and stabs. the dark holds its breath. and we can bleed again. embrace the holes in this skin. find solace in the persistence of scabs.

long dresses and shimmering nooses. quench the alien.

Colors in the ether draw the choice in her path. empty cages still echo with the monster.