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who told me not to sit upright?
a chorus,
“they did they did we did we did you did they did.”
what beast drives my lust?
a tiger,
“I drive you to the ground and eat your young.”
who tucked your daughter in, under the stacks?
my brother,
“she did herself in and found another home.”

I was alive in snow
surrounded by friends
each with a painted face
they fought over water
from a drain pipe
I urged us to leave

we did

we sat in a car
surrounded by pink matrons
one of them said,
“there’s a reason she doesn’t want to go back, you know the reason. It hurts to find passion neutered and strangled by jealousy.”

oh I wept in their arms

“I have a woman with beautiful teeth, skin, hair that touches the bends of her shoulders, one that loves me and bathes me in white water.”

not her
“you don’t have that”
not her
“you don’t have that”

I’ve eaten myself alive