999 Z52

on the diving board
with bandana
with shorts
with shoes
with a torn shirt
on
she puts on war paint
-
two pink fingers dipped
streaking paint under the eyes
-
with bird feathers
with leather braces
with brown sunglasses
on
she puts on war paint
-
thumbs each covered in black
dragging paint around the jaw
-
-
nobody stops her
they watch from the grill
smoke
thick and black
charring the food
they stand with mouths
firm
solid lines
–
–
she jumps in
the paint slides off
leaves colored trails underwater

a new womb in suburbia
a beating heart in the corpse
we made our lives in