Silk

I wake in a bruise-blue room. Lipstick on the glass, still wet. You were there in the velvet gloom. Name on my tongue but I forget. Black dress on the back of a chair. Swaying like it’s keeping time. Something in the dark sidesteps. Pulling at the thread of my mind. You come to me in poison dreams. Sweet as sugar cut with teeth. Lay me down in silver seams. Kiss my eyelids, steal my sleep. You’re the ghost between the seams. Where the daylight cannot reach. I keep chasing crooked dreams. And they keep chewing into me. Into me. Clock hands drip like candle wax. Floor turns to a slow black sea. Every step, The mirror cracks. Shows a dozen versions of me. You say, "Stay, we can live in the smoke." Words curl like a ribbon of lies. I taste your promise in my throat. Wake up with the salt in my eyes. You come to me in poison dreams. Sweet as sugar cut with teeth. Lay me down in silver seams. Kiss my eyelids, steal my sleep. You’re the ghost between the seams. Where the daylight cannot reach. I keep chasing crooked dreams. And they keep chewing into me. Chewing me. Are you a wish I buried young? Or just a shadow wearing my face? Every night the same sharp tongue. Every night I choose this Place. You, you come to me in poison dreams. Sweet as sugar cut with teeth. Lay me down in silver seams. Kiss my eyelids, steal my sleep. You’re the ghost between the seams. Where the daylight cannot reach. I keep chasing crooked dreams. 'Til I can't tell you from me.