a poem for egan @theend4 's poetry event !! inspired by road music by richard siken :]]
transcript under cut:
1.
the radio plays your least favourite song
and as you
turn it over
and over in your mind,
he sweeps an eyelash off your shoulder. you
didn't know it was there.
you imagine cruising through the air
following the roads the birds have made and
you take a left where the clouds seem to
writhe away from the sun.
heart transplants never last that long and
it’s human instinct,
to thread your fingers through
his, until your veins
tangle like fish nets. hot and heavy like the leather seats beneath you.
2.
foot hooked to ankle,
wrists over the steering wheel, nail against
pulsepoint;
it cuts off circulation,
but listen – the sound of deep blue
in his eyes, and fire simmering beneath his tongue:
if you kiss him, you'll never kiss again.
it’s like dying, like a
burning star –
he is undiscovered, choppy waters. a penny
behind the ear.
you look down the barrel of a gun and your
reflection looks back.
you count the tendons in his neck and in return
he licks the soap off your teeth.
i'm not afraid, he laughs. but he should be.
3.
the wind dances outside the car. the aircon’s broken.
he takes off his jacket and you dream of
dying happy.
he touches you through your skin, all the way down
to the gaps in your ribs
and you have never felt more like a cave,
more like an egg left out in the sun,
poached,
yolk
spilling out.
when you close your eyes, you see him,
you keep on seeing him until
you taste iron down your throat, and then you can't
remember –
why
were you here in the first place?
you broke his heart, and he thinks of you
each time
he eats an olive.
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