(and we all grow) old

i am choking on words

my palms are sweating

trepidation, consternation

are both big words

for

FEAR

bestows on me like a long rusty wire

clinging me to something

i have never

been able

to see.

i am stuttering and dodging

your pupils

and i wonder why

everyone is always

staring

at

me.

i feel naked when

i see myself in your eyes

and your eyes

and yours

and yours

But him,

he is picking his nose

and she
she is cleaning the blood

from her pants

and he just left

a love

and she is crying

(it feels good)

he is crying

(he feels nothing)

and he saw me naked

yesterday and

now he is throwing out

the cotton

covered in his own

sticky

yellow

wax.

she prefers to absorb it

while she prefers to get it out

but they both unwrap

them and throw them

away

and she does a lot of shaving

and he wishes he did

and she has a lot

of stray hairs

on

her

face.

he likes things

in his his ass

and she doesn't but

she tried it once

(just in case she did)

she likes to paint

(but isn't sure why)

and he hears

something in everything

and she hates what she loves

and he loves the chase

she loves being chased

but they don't want

to chase

each

other.

she used to tear her

hair out when she was five

she doesn't shave her legs

without a reason

and he prefers it but

is too shy to say

she sucked her thumb until

she was ten

and now she sucks his

and he likes it

and she likes it

but they

don't like

each

other

and his eye goes a little

crooked when he looks

a certain way

and she likes to

be

on

top

and he likes her to

be

on

top

and they come together

top and bottom

but they don't want

to be

together

and he likes the warm body

and she likes his body

he doesn't like

her body but any

body is good enough

sometimes

we smell the sewage

every time we drive down

this street and

we all

gag

because we only shit

in private

and my mother has

seen every inch of me and

my father has too

but i have never seen

all of them

and

i

never

will.

and she fears god but

he thinks we are all

pieces of meat

fearing nothing

but

DEATH

and

he's afraid of it and

laughs every time he wakes

and she stapled

her finger once and

was shocked when it hurt

she bleeds every few months

and she bleeds every day

she stopped bleeding years ago

and can't remember what it was like

when she did

She hasn't ever bled

and she will bleed tomorrow

and she hasn't bled at all

but she has
and

will
again.