September 2025

my body is my burden
agitated and inflamed
a cage with no doors or locks
imprisoned by threads, blue and green

gentle touches linger
as white impressions
cinereous stains on
translucent fingertips

the swell of prolonged sorrow
beneath the skin 
biting at the backs
of my knuckles

copper disperses the
bloodless void
marked by a moment of tenderness
purple craters to remind him:

to hold me is to suffer

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