Breath and skin

I
feel myself
coming undone

at the side

barely there

just one more
pull

then
some stranger
stitches me together

again

leaving no scar you can see

i feel it
it scratches
i tug

now you can watch
as
it unravels

insides
slipping out

your
race against time
to protect
my seams

stained beyond porous
covers

it was only a thread
it was only a scratch

we will hide it well.

Burnt to a crisp

21 years down the tracks
will I still be here
and you there,
with your deep,
ocean deep thoughts.
Caught in a shallow frying
pan.
Slowly cooking.
I said slowly cooking,
they’re slowly cooking.
I think,
and it’s only a thought,
that you left it on
too high,
far too high.
Oh yes.
A bit well done,
I burnt my fingers.
I see you burnt your heart.

A moment in time

In the moment
before we break
when time is held
and fades
will you hear the crack
as everything
is ripped apart?

Hush

So I kept quiet.

As it all fell apart.

Melting slowly
into silence.

You watched my lips

flounder and fail.

Shelter

Finding when I close my eyes
the images of what never was.
A big dream that barely
happened,
or happened so far away
that it glances off the
shapeless voids
and slips softly away.
To the places far beyond where
I can go,
past the images I hardly dare
to touch
for fear that they will shatter
and float away to that empty
space
where all those other big dreams shelter.

Dead weight

Bones, that barely fill
the hollow
left
between dead weight
and fine film.

I fall behind.

You, wait for me
to stretch and
wrap
what is left.

A layer of protection
but I
fall behind.

What we use to be

So seldom
do I hear your voice
settle on my outstretched palm.
Stirring what little
is left within delicate lines.
I wrap warped fingers
against the pull of the tide
as your whisper fades.