by Adwiti Haffner
It was only three blue irises ago
worship fell short
like lightning bolts of disgrace
ripples seared
inside lobes
Nuclear Power Plant
about to blow
You caught the blue poison
in your butterfly stomach
crawling like star-nosed moles
untamed blind itches
a silent scalpel
slicing open
your tongue
Neither moved
to shield your barefoot voice
against the murmur of
absent fight
Kisses landed
like pounding bullets
into the sap of your songs
making holes through
“NO”
He said
Shhhhhhh
as you awoke and swung
like a black pendulum
against his chest
hands trembling
holding
the shaft of shame
Hushed tongue
left at dusk
You summoned yourself
the sound of your skin
had not returned
from his belly, his belt, his loins
his lust
You sprang
from your wraith
wings flapping
abandoning
the salt of silence
and one by one
ripened #metoos
like lunar lotuses
from the deep cesspool
winged mouths of bristling dawn
Purge
