hollow chill
It never leaves me. I cannot leave.
until your lips are chapped
until your heart is sore
and better, and better, and better--
in one whole day i have expended the entirety of my loveliness
i have forgotten my friends,
thinking that they ought to forget me
a warm blanket becomes a thin shawl becomes a tarpaulin
and i have no more.
(but the body continues)
in one pale afternoon i have scrounged away what remained of my wellfeeling
money drips down the vent and i refuse to back away from the drain
in the mirror, this charlatan ghost of loveliness and the empty shape of a welcome sound
what i could be, if i wanted to, but if i am not, then i do not want to
forget wishing. what are your cruel, animal wants?
and ignore them. you know the body continues
no needs. no needs. no needs