Skin Poems

1.

I wear my heart on my skin
Nervous nails draw lines
Like rose gardens.
Splotchy patches of pink
Caused by stress or chlorine
And no one has the manners to pretend they aren't there.
They plague me, like cockroaches that refuse to die.
This skin is not my own, it is
A malevolent gift.
I wish I were a snake.

2.

Your dark fingers fit
Between mine
The contrast
Is beautiful
Starlight
In a night sky
Onyx
And silver
Ink
On the blank page
You write a poem with your
Soft touch
You tattoo me with words of
Love
I think I've finally found you

3.

Layers of dust coat the floor
Where they lived for years.
Dead skin.

She walks through the empty house
Footsteps echo softly, leaving a trail.
Dead space.

Dust billows as her feet sweep
Across the room, settles back.
Dead again.

She tries to remember how long it's
Been since he left--
Dead. Yesterday?

A lifetime. The dust testifies,
DNA evidence, he's been
Dead. She

Is dying, cell by cell,
The dust accumulating.
Dead skin.

4.

It cuts across skin
Leaving in its wake
A bleeding black line
Carving skulls and snakes,
Dragons and daggers.
Japanese koi.
From flash to flesh,
A transformation.
Metamorphosis.
The canvas
Will never be the same.