jukebox hymns

sonia sonia bartlettxxxxxx

applause break

The inevitable absence of light

that nests within the marrow

The great conductor

wrap your bones in glass

The great projector

wrap your skin in ash

The watts will summon a fire

The velvet will always fall

untitled transition

All my secrets lay beneath hidden in the leaves

in my dark green dreams,

nesting in my ribs,

bursting at the seams.

Imploding in vanity.

Exhausting the days.

Peeling off the porcelain chips

in from the depths of this stall,

I purged out my tinsel chains,

and gazed upon fluorescent whispers

carved within these walls.

xxxxxxx

xx

another porcelain road map

Once the snow banks (dis)integrate,Once the gum drops levitate (into neon realms)Blooming limes will dive below warmthAnd rusted petals will blanket the concrete awaiting sleepI will liein a state between the rise and the setThese porcelain fingers will not restCarved in every print is the outline of your faceThe outline that I’ve etched in every cave...I know you like those bestAnd this has nothing to do with dissatisfaction’s or regretBut the tips of my hands crave the bridge of your nose,the crease in your lips and the edge of your bones.

Sitting beneath this flaking canopy in the year end rotI miss tracing the outline of your face,and the stillness that it brought.

math class is a dangerous place for a 17 16 year old girl

Plunged into a cheek in hand haze

Double glazed

Burnt silk ribbons snapping around my thighs

Steamed soles

Ash covered toes

We were better off twirling a blushing waltz

under that rusted school desk

xxx

quilt

I

want to

F e e e e e l

my your 1.lips 2.jaw 3.lungs 4.ribs 5.knuckles 6.hips7.body

B R E A

K

beneath

your my bOnes.

xxxxxxquilt

My greatest enjoyment is when you’re unconscious

He numbers my ribs before he rests

I letter the drips within his chest

And during his escape to that green screen test

I wake to plant exotic whispers

And fragrant kisses

In the depths of his neck

another scratched record for the pile.

crumpled and caked whispers on laminate tiletied into a jukebox hymnnew wave whaling’sconducting my corechorus container sealing soprano sorrows& voodoo victors defrost to detonate a pitch strained

off key

burnt retina

you ran east west-

the bronze tan on your thigh

showed four of your foreign addresses

in a box within a chest-

I found a kodachrome sleave

where the frost beams from my window illuminated

the paleness of your flesh

- you ran west

xxxx

your pride, my devotion

I’d ink my flesh with the blood of your flag

And devour the tar your sins left behind

Knit knitting

Knot knotting

Arteries intertwined

This anthem will mutilate any limbs with false pride.

xxxxxx

xxxxxxxx

yuletide ceremony

December skies should be left asideto ready our nests for tempest rime

Ascending, Aspartame Gods germinate mortal shrinesno frosted window or leather purse is left behind pine trees, disco balls, resurrections and alcohol - the new beginning survival kitto accessorize the new dawn’s outfit unworthy of this coil in the glow of city lights and television homes I, with delicacyshall lay this tongue of mine upon a pole like throne in hopes I chill and wake in Aprils morning dew.

xxx

drift in nowhererift in whereif in herei in her