parenthetical expression
you do me the one favor,
& thank you for that.
you do me the one favor.
you listen, ear to wound,
one last hyphen,
dripping in your ear like hydro-peroxide.
i know you expected some substance,
any words at all,
even unrecognizable ones,
even foreign words to this land mass or planet.
something besides the drip drip drip of semicolon,
my red oozing down your ear canal,
down your throat,
plopping into your gut, you hear it grumble, gouagh like.
oh, why do you think you deserve anyone’s last words?
when we know you will just peddle it out behind your sleek two hundred dollar trench coat,
high vampiric collars, woosh woosh tail,
fifty pockets: i’m sorry, why didn’t i, it hurts
i can’t, i loved, ciao…
a flavor for every bill-clenching fist.
lime handkerchiefs calling surrender in the middle of this war,
i’ll stain them scarlet, like my throat, your ear,
your coat, your thoughts.
scarlet like where eye meets nose,
where blush scorns cheeks,
where blood puddles out,
where bites meet thighs.
someone out there, at some point, will wield my last imprint.
the parenthetical expression of my accidental last words,
the x mark,
(sad to admit, but
probably not worth the favor)
undeniably there
til veins heal, memories shed.
and i’m
beyond wordless
punctuation-less.