puppet

it goes like this:

you make my hands shake,

my lips twitch,

my eyes water.

you make my heart beat,

my lungs rattle,

my stomach turn.

you play my vocal chords like an instrument,

your fingers pluck gentle melodies and

tug out soft reassurances and

pull ‘til i scream,

'til they snap under the tension.

(your fingers reach up, cover mine.

my skin stretches over your skeleton.)

i am made of string and you unravel me.

you wind me tightly around your finger

then pin me up on a cork board

in a web of bright blood red

and purple-blue veins.

i was made of string and you've unravelled me,

just to make me again in your image

in the shadows on your wall,

in your bathroom mirror.

over and over and

over, again.

you raise your right hand, i raise my left.