Wish I didn’t dwell where the wild things are,

wasn’t spellbound by their coats of matted hair and the

cowardice they

dispel.

 

You say I shouldn’t wallow, but I haven’t been well.

 

Dog that broke its legs chasing rabbits and cars, fell in

a hole the world left ajar.

 

Wish I was rhythmically inclined, sweetheart;

enough to dance alongside the music you whisper

to a backdrop of lies, rather than

high-pitched

whistles I run

toward out of spite.

 

Never lose your light, little

Ricochet. Even if you misplace balance,

the angels on my shoulder say, your

demons aren’t gospel,

and can be a counterweight.

 

So tempt the fates and universal faults,

to dance with your monsters because these songs are

occult.

 

Ghost ships play organs but the crescendos

are dull like

the tides and their

pirates of bones,

a snake in one’s skull.

 

Hindsight would be twenty-twenty if not for the wool over

your eyes, sidestepping twenty-five to

life, a square dance brought

full circle.

 

Wish I didn’t run with these wild things because

their company is indiscernible from yours, and worse,

they’re personable,

 

whisking me away at

midnight,

 

leaving you to mourn the music we

would have held eternal.

With those stars in your eyes

you see glamour in my dark heart,

you’re blinded by the glitter of night,

the purple circles –

sleepless nights and selfish battles.

 

You call me purgatory,

sin wearing labels, bearing crosses

from your past life.

I am an escape to you,

something at which to gawk

and stare at behind glass;

watching how I flit in darkness

a captivating menace.

But all I am, monster

of cliff-edges, bridges,

trains tracks, bathroom mirrors,

beds, forests and rivers,

is fear.

I am not a beautiful beast –

do not fall in love with me.

 

I am the sweat in your pores,

the lines around your eyes,

the creak on your stairs,

damp in your walls,

the palpitations tingling

in every nerve ending.

 

I am blood.

I am skin.

I am a monster

because I am more human

than demon.