"In the Night" by Aly Acevedo
the man i love does not love me.
yet, the man i love wants to still
wrap his body around mine when the moon is full.
i let him.
i let him mangle our bodies together in the night,
by morning i can’t tell to whom each limb belongs.
the illusion of being one again keeps this fantasy
alive.
the man i love says he isn’t full, so
i give him my whole and watch him eat to the core.
i watch him spit out my seeds and tell me
the whole thing was rotten.
but i love him i tell myself over and over.
his scent still giggling in my sheets, the keys to my house
still dangling on his chain, my spit still fresh in his mouth.
tell me what i did wrong?
"The Resurrection Fails" by Aly Acevedo
i am decorating my body for the blackest of funerals.
decorating the blackest of bruises
on my left breast. where i bled out.
exorcist, purge the chaos of my carcass of a lover’s
consciousness. there is no gentleness
to be found. this isn’t what i wanted.
you didn’t hold me tightly. love me. words
didn’t nurse this hollowed out
home back into life.
i feel alone with my love next to me. these words
gather at the choke of my neck.
beg to be said.
what is a man but a suffocator of flowers until finally
she wilts. finally she says everything
not to be heard.
what is a man but standing at the edge of everything.
wondering what shape your body
will whip into when it jumps?