& pearls & pearls & pearls

it ended with a trip to the zoo. my heart sits caged in a glass

jar on the top shelf. I never let you walk inside me,

still i find your fingerprints under my left ventricle.

i don’t know much anymore. how to forget wearing my retainer

so i fall asleep comforted by my own

negligence. the rusting bullet

resting just under my palm.

i don’t change my sheets. i am only a thief lying alone,

wrapped in an american flag. you let

the lines of your hands reach the lines out from my eyes,

collecting pearls

& pearls & pearls.

the only time i understood art was when i dreamt i

snuck into the Met to lay on the dead sea diver,

his net full of open shells and

a diver’s knife.

i am as inside out as a shadow, a reflection

on the butter knife, my face smashed into your

carpet, the one with more

than one colour.

i paint myself invisible to stay here.

my mouth, my nose, my eyes,

& pearls & pearls

& pearls.