Inked in Steel (By Cat Matchuk)
Push through this skin
and paint a picture.
Finger painting
with blood.
It was all a young girl knew.
Push through this skin
and paint a picture.
Finger painting
with blood.
It was all a young girl knew.
It itches and burns
to crack open and smell the blood, wasn’t the intention.
Growing raw against silk sheets, I couldn’t fix it.
I am trapped in the soft prison
of my own flesh.
The wardens have wrapped my heart in wire.
Tied down by the demons
that hunt us.
I don’t mind being another taken,
one more.
Sounds muffled, musicians play to the night.
Off the water and across the sand,
I sit and wait for you.
There you were, frail and weak,
if I touched you, you were sure to fall apart.
I knew you were there, and I knew you were alive,
I could hear it from the beating of your heart.
White wall, white paint,
it peels off with time.
Make a stage for the shadow puppets.
Fear what you cannot see,
you never know what lurks in the dark.
A heavy weight against the heart
can only slow the beating.
It does not stop, merely pulsing.
Weak, but alive.