What Wakes Me

There is a bent chord
After I hear
My back door slam.
Shakes ice
From eyelids
Warms the flesh
With sadness
And gives way
To the nightmares
Dreamt last night-
To strong for the traps
I lay
Above my bed.

Vibrations that
Sink into the heart
As if they were
Hooks
Pulls my soul from the breast
Before me
As the rest falls
Away
Dissipates through concrete
Below the bridge.
Still the only place
That forces a held breath
Until crossed.

Descending into
My incorrect memory
Which has me kissing
Scars on wrists,
Icing knees,
Blocking the door
While you struck my chest
Provoked by the outline
Of his temper
On your forearm.

Collapsing onto
That which
Supposes I am sixteen
Watching you undress from underneath
My bed,
Persephone
Tattooed on the small
Of your naked back,
Wishing you not to pass
Through unknown gates
I have no hopes of breaching.

Awakening
To the unraveled
Possibility
That I would place you
In front of me
Barefoot
Dressed in white
Pacing around a fountain.
Confident that I shouldn’t
Follow you
Chase you
But rather
Wait
To hear your steps
At my back.