[my body dies the more I use it]
       

my body dies the more I use it
so I use it often / there a tender

death wish / terrifying entrance /
when I panic it's from choking

on three separate tongues / mine
my lover's & a tired history

of loss / what I use my body for
today is running & a mediocre poem

which I use for therapy / it works
temporarily / any small re-entrance

is a sign of progress / writing down
the trauma for the first time is still

trauma / writing down the trauma
for the fifth time is still trauma but

at least I have a poem in my hands /
my lover is resilient / peeling back

a sleeve she shows me ghost incisions /
slice your skin & you're no longer

in a poem or a metaphor / you are
here with a paperclip inside your wrist /

does the past decay the more I use it
in a poem / can I out-poem the past

from churning in my belly-pit / yes
the future is an enzyme & a catalyst

or a burp that smells like hotdogs
& a little like my grief / I hate that

stupid constant place which refuses
tense / longing too / greedily I suck

my lover's upper lip looking for a poem
or I lick the balmy archive of my gut

with all three tongues / one says loss
one says loss one says I am not your tongue

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Copyright © 2020 Sarah Sgro All rights reserved
from If The Future Is A Fetish
YesYes Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission