quiet & beloved memory—serpent swallowing mouse wholea vibration of the tail—warning of appetiteI collect your worst flaws in a jar, colorfulI taste them—candy, I loathe them—cemetery.
our walls spackled with fear, hanging rabbits & chickenshanging blue, darker than my room, an evening, lookI pause for the moon, look, it moves you but does not movethe wind, is silent, it ruptures your breath, I wait.
we collect snakes in our room, they hiss at any movementwe splatter their colors on walls to hide the shamewe shame the walls with colors that we splatteredI collect my snakes and wait for your return.
I miss heat, I search for heat, I slash your nameinto this canvas, I rip flowers apart, and berriesI smear their colors onto this surface, I repeatno space is left un-filled, unfulfilled.
we pause, I gather water, to drownharm in the gut, or grief, whatever we callseparation, bleeding onto a white plateauof us and you, I exiled and you, re-appearing.

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Image: Sunset near Arbonne,ca. 1860–65, Théodore Rousseau French