Was it something in that drink?
It contacted the skin?
Through the meal or the breathing?
Now edacious within.
The muscles swell to expel
this dormant pathogen.
You know it’s poison.
You’re poisoned again.
Remember the taste of silver?
Remember the suit of pins?
The skin of thin glass
that you tremble against?
How did this begin?
When will it end?
Whose name will you call?
Which cells will you defend?
Remember the poison?
Yes, you’re poisoned.
Windows are melting.
Smoke carries the walls away.
The portrait’s been torn
by broken glass in the frame.
And you’ve taken the pages
out of all your friends.
Taken the poison.
You’re poisoned.
Your fingers recall the notes
to a lost, crooked tune.
You can’t lift your eyes above
the dress on the bed,
the bed in this room.
You despise her for coming,
but would have prayed
until she came —
Race through me, poison,
erase me again.
Drowning in an ocean
of deaf adrenaline.
Race through me, poison,
erase me again.
Race through me poison –
Again and again,
again, again and again.
And again.
Again.
and again
again
again
© 1999.