In Carnage, We Bloom

I

Prying legs open to take a step.

Just another step.

Wading through asphalt and that kaleidoscopic mist.

The stripes are like pillars,

bleached islands anchoring us within cluttered

blinding lights.

A forceful hand pushes us forwards

into the mechanical rhythm

of shattering glass and sinking fantasies.

The rhythmic beeps keep us going, I guess?

A step, just another step.

Suddenly —

we find ourselves running,

through the ivory haze, we sprint, breathless—

Away from the crimson-clad asphalt,

and barking hounds with poison teeth—

Sky of pepper, a white stinging,

drawing tears,

and retribution.

On the ground there are bodies,

forced against walls,

falling like rain

dripping into a bucket.

Run fast, or they’ll catch you—

II

Do you enjoy pressing against her throat?

Watching your reflection teeter

on the edge of your glinting blade.

Do you relish peeling off pearly teeth,

pretty smiles?

Watching her struggle as you

trace the curve of her lips, breathing in her cries.

Drawing blood, slow,

from quaking tongue, watching it drip,

drip —

an agonising pink.

Her tears radiate salmon waves,

pooling beneath a scattering of cloth.

Does it excite you, seizing her still-beating voice box

in your palm?

Feeling the slow trickle of blood collecting at your knuckles,

watching parts of it seep into

the cracks of your fingernails?

Still warm with hope?

I bet you never felt so alive

as when you were silencing her.

Chuckling, you, and your boys toss her

into the sea.

What an awful stench, you remark—

flushing flesh down the drain,

clapping shoulders and calling it a day.

Did you really think that'll be the end of it?

Beware the reflection that looks back at you with

hallowed eyes.

The ghosts you’ve created

will never die —

Your nails, they’re stained a pretty pink

till the end of time.

III

The day we lost our wings, I remember —

The day we saw

clawed mist rising from between twisted teeth and steel arteries

with red-hot pops —

Desolation oozing from flaming slits in desperate chaos,

Do you remember?

Burning tears leaving searing scars

running down our cheeks.

The sky disappearing above us as we skidded and sputtered through an

ivory void —

Defiant muddied souls

rolling,

suffocating—

in a sea of white.

IV

Ash seeping through the sky.

The beautiful left to rot.

Stewing in your vermillion lies.

Bleeding hearts silenced and shot.

When will we finally breathe?

V

in that ivory haze, we watched the umbrellas bloom.

“and so shall we,” you said to me with a smile.