Elliott KB
FIVE REMINDERS FOR AN EXHAUSTED BODY
1.
My bruises mean all the blood beneath
heals by eating itself
and time is a dizzy monster
waiting for tenderness to turn
into tarnish.
2.
My bruises mean I flew through darkness
away from the smell of your whiskey breath
towards petals of a particular moon
and got lost in the pull of remembering.
3.
My bruises mean I’m half mammal,
half hornet: built my home, caught
sun silt, pollinated abundantly
with the knowledge I have magic
in the pocket of my spleen.
4.
My bruises mean the metal melted
into a silver liquor I poured straight
back into your mouth.
5.
My bruises mean I came close to collapse
but my bones fought back:
the inside is alive
so alive, a violet pith
rises to meet the pink
bliss of unbroken skin.