All you can eat

Thrown hard -my back agains the wall

your hand trails unsteadily

through my hair, over my cheek

and I sink as you fix me in place;

threading your wires through my skin

in reckless uneven stitches.

You touch my lips and linger

to make these holes in my throat,

then taunt the voiceless

-listening only, as my lungs deflate,

to the sound of air that's no longer mine

igniting the sparks I strike behind my eyes...

In my quick-burning rage, I forget

my name, I feel no pain, feel no regret.

I tear your wires from my flesh and

watch the blood so bright and fresh.

Emboldened now by the coursing red

I turn your needle on you instead.

I bind you now with will and might

back against the wall -stitched up so tight.

With time I know my holes will heal

but you, I want to remain here.

...now the embers cool to return

me from fugue; to re-associate

my brain, the agony, the name.

Your hand presses hard

into the crook of my waist

and I watch as you savor the sharpness

of this curve with your dead

hungry grip gnawing into my ribs.

I've been all but resolved with plotted

precision -your strung up captive.

Too weak to fight back from all

the blood lost.

Watercolor and ink