effluence

I can't differentiate between

ink stains and bruises but

my skin is eternally coated in

temporary pools

of memory and muse

I fell in love with the moon snail

long before I understood

my own entrails and I

learned to read my palm before

I ever wrote a word of truth

the bags beneath my eyes were

painted by the moon and they

contain constellations my words

are tidal waves and I was never

prepared for the damage

a slap of lightning and grumble of

thunder and then the storm is

through it was never forecast

I have stanzas shifting in my

stomach waiting for life

abandoning poetry would be

suicide and I've got scars enough

to hide behind but each line leaves

me bare here I am scared here but

this is the first time I've

dared to

breathe