Content warning: drug use, insects, use of a sexist slur

my nitrous oxide love machine
delights in destruction
dancing around a
pile of ecstatic bones
and a static face
on honey-melon
hillsides

cuddled and coddled in spider silk
while hosiery hangs
from ceiling fans
cupping spilt wine and spit:
today is the day i give it all up
every mound and every ripple

ladybug hands
and fallen eyelashes
pinching / piercing
into glossy cheeks
scuttling across sulci
kissing indeterminate
shadows

my body blooms
though not so much my body
as much as my liver
or maybe my stomach
i bequeath my most treasured items
to my daughter

everything i ever am
i throw away for
calcified pyres and funeral hearts
i’ll be the artist / the gossip /
the whore!
before my blood tides over
and my hands become soft

everything i ever am
i sacrifice to you
my porcelain-ruby-baby
my body-double

you astound me
you!
kill me