Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re‐Entry

It would have been easy to stay home. To look away. To get drunk enough to kid myself i never saw anything. Fires die, fire die, eyes grow tired. We hollow out and pretend that we hate company. Mask the fear of loss with distance. It would have been easy to let you go. To let you die, My friend. Now i'm breaking down your door and i am begging you to stay. But you always run away. You're afraid of the pain. You won't even say his name. Peel back the skin from your face. The sun is not the only thing that's fallen today; Don't call me angel. Let the drip remind you that you're alive; you have to stay awake. Won't you stay and suffer with me? Clear your head in the rain, cigarette on the fire escape. Look away, passing years fleeting fears. Winter air, rain blurs into mist under lights as vision vignettes. We disregard ourselves. Living among memories, Scar becomes skin. Dig your nails in. Don't you dare let go. Bloodshot to unslept. Running down the hallway soaking wet. White knuckle to the blade, you really mean it this time. I can't lose another friend. In the cold light of a saturday. Freezing rain, a broken window. There's blood across the kitchen floor. Don't make me do this again. Don't make me. Now i'm breaking down your door and i'm begging you to stay. But you will always run away, You're afraid of the pain. You won't even say my name as you walk into the waves. That love line is looking frayed, life line's a fucking noose. You can stand strong alone. I've seen you live through this before.

Submitted by Immortal — Apr 24, 2025

You are the morning star. Sunrise reflecting off empty bottles, And the mirror is cracked and flecked white. Goodnight sweet supply, here comes the crash. See you at the end of the skylines rushing up, Rooftops colliding our faces awake. One night in hell, seven minutes in heaven. 4th degree burns on my hands and my neck. Young lucifer, kiss my mouth at the station. Could you hold my hands 'til they stop shaking? Safe passage, blood magic, cuts on my wrists. Skin going numb from the pills swallowing. Not holding hands but we touch at our lips. Don't need to fuck, but i'm still fucking with- Take out your weapon and climb on top of me. Make me art, Make a mess. A monument to lost rest. The space between our skin inscribed with blood and sweat. Kiss me goodnight like a pilot light, Sylvia. I won't pretend i didn't notice you staring. Did you see the bloodstains, or just the shaking? Is it okay? Obvious how far i'm gone? The other side of the sunrise, Scream into my mirror. Until the glass breaks us. One night in hell, seven minutes in heaven. 4th degree burns on my hands and my neck. Young lucifer, kiss my mouth at the station. Could you hold my hands 'til they stop shaking? Safe passage, blood magic, cuts on my wrists. Skin going numb from the pills swallowing. Not holding hands but we touch at our lips. Don't need to fuck, but i'm still fucking with- Angels on my tongue, Incense in my lungs. Shaking hands tear me to bits. ...the 4th degree. Your blood would freeze at the thought. Of the shit that i have done for money. How much neon do i have to push through my veins. Until i can call myself a city? Like every night you stayed close that year. Kissed the bottle in the streetlight, Should it have been me? Oh man i wish. Andule, Mi alma. I wish life could have been different. But i bled petition to the gods for your safe flight back to Toronto. Next time will be measured in days and months or i'll cut out my lying tongue. Every day i wake from a vision of the ground rushing to meet my face. If we never fell like this, How do we know what falling is?

Submitted by The Void — Apr 24, 2025

Press that bloodstain to my chapped and faded lips. As if though contact i could regain myself. Carve your initials, Stay claim to my flesh. I never wanted this prison of meat and bone. With my poets' lips, Oven-blue and glistening. Resent myself for learning how to sing inside a bell jar: "Yo soy la reina de los huesos, Yo soy la reina del infierno, Estoy bien" I can keep up the act. I'm not wearing thin. Love my work, full of joy, motivated, every day i'm not wearing thing. Telling myself i can i can i can i can i can. Live with this compromise. Yo soy la reina de los huesos, Yo soy la reina del infierno, Estoy bien. Estoy bien. I hate my voice for never being what you wanted to hear. I hate my mirror for never showing me what i want to see. At my very best, i made a fucking mess of your bed, But it was a beautiful wreck, Right? She said if that's all i want to try then that's fine, Abi just let go and fucking- "I feel energised 100% of the time. I feel positive. I feel strong. Struggling to come up with new ideas is not making me depressed. Drinking is not affecting my life. Cocaine is not affecting my life. I just need some time of whatever it is that makes you feel completed. I need to feel whole, and not like a shitty person anymore. I'm..." Die. Die, Abi. Die. I'll make sure your work dies with you.

Submitted by Cyberwaste — Apr 24, 2025