Sub Rosa - Algebra Suicide

All the stars clustered like rashes

on a cheap woman’s neck

Reminding me of nothing as subtle as a tongue slipped into an ear

Condensed laughter streams in from the wings

I’ve called for it to distract you

I hear you sing a song of temptation and wonder if you wrote it for me

You’ll never tell.

You only give me big, big dumb juicy eyes

I become obsessed with all sorts of omens: birthmarks or plagues or glints in

the eye

From closer, I see your hands are sweating, flooding their wrinkles

I see your hands are nervous now, begging to be clutched