fingers through ripping hairs in fists
cracked lips grimace
sound of splitting comforts
gnawing chain of white teeth
on the lips, tongue, dull steady scrape
fireworks swallowed
fingernails shredding a second skin
scouring until blood blooms
and drops in clots on the tile
oily fog in an upwards drift
steaming the backs of eyeballs
curling hairs and lips alike
storm clouds’ dissolution
an epiphanic beam snaps to dark
and a hunched back of rabid strain
and quaking and pockmarks and gashes
and so she rises, so she lays bare
enveloped in whispers and steamy promise