Russian Roulette
light multiplied by itself is shadow divided by shadow. in your realm, i am devoid of light. A heavy iron key twists in the lock, a bullet in its chamber. and you scrupulously return it to your pocket. oh, what an obedient slave am i. no protests rise to my lips. i play amoung the shades of the labyrinth. patient, so patient. Soon the monster will consume me. i fear no darkness,(why should i? when the darkness lies within. a truculent husk is what i am. a trophy case- the blackness boiling inside. i am being devoured from within. a black box cataloging and recording this nothingness for future reference. And if you tear this door down and light washed in to penetrate me, i would only open my arms to it. let it fall into this abyss never to be seen. a blackhole, then. a star born of fire and air. and digesting not only itself but entire galaxies. a burst of light at the speed of light then the terrible limitless expanse of eternity. a black plague, the reign of death sucking out the marrow of light and shitting out shadow. the bullets are nestled snug in their little beds. the key turns the latch lifts and a prayer is on my lips. it's a game, it's only a game. and in this cell the minotaur breathes no sound at all. the silence roars like blood in my head. Cross catch, draw the latch, invite the monster in.
---Benjamin M.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Chance To Eat
thrice she turns and once again towards the sinister hand, this dome of heaven, a lapis bowl swings the sword of Damocles. the sky will fall upon her yet but she is a reckless girl. she must live just in this now, a hedonist who angered time. and trapped within its amber grasp, she dreams of autumn leaves, a single voice, her demon down the rabbithole, cicada wings. she wakes in tears, sees altars shining in the starlight. she knows what they are for. it was this, then, Spirit,she'd anticipated it all along, that song, that game, meant to pacify her infant heart and honing her appetite for tragedy. the banquet hall is readied. the feral beast in the wood sole witness to the feast.
---- Benjamin M.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vaccine
the venom is on my tongue, i know it's taste, it tastes of oblivion. i swallow it, am not surprised, i feel nothing, my love, nothing at all. inside me these cells divide, they carry the pathogen, something stirs and awakens. it's nothing, my love nothing. this addiction courses through my veins, i feed it some more. i could not cast this cup from me, this cup of nothingness. i close my eyes and the world is gone. the neurotoxin surges now, a tide of emptiness. a sweep of stars against my eyelids, galaxies of words. i feel nothing now, my love, nothing but you.
---Benjamin M.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obsidion Butterfly
Lift her body from the Chacmool, see how prettily the blood does shine against her skin, she was a clever girl once, and nimbly dodged the weapons which bring all women down,it was only a matter of time, here the furnace roars to life, do not think the flames cruel, it is a kindness to subdue her flesh,she was born of fire, she died with ashes in her mouth, she knew what coldness lay in the hearts of men before she knew how to say daddy, her first steps stumbling away from the openhanded rebuke, she'd been running ever since,until that net, that paitient hunter with his shards of glass, his indifference and his desire to discover, what made her what she was, there spread on that jagged stone, pleading so enticingly, she made a pretty sacrifice.
---Benjamin M.