heartburn expulsion

red flag

(trigger warning: self-harm)

this is her:
soft pink petal body
illuminated by
red electric live wires
dripping cotton candy lace
bullet train tracks made up
of rust handprints

all carriages report to the glass dome!
it's a thick soup of blood
in a crystal aquarium
but unlike the deathly stench
of the nile river
it's bubbling with aquatic life
fish and coral and turtles and whales
siphon blood into their gills and lungs
and glow as rubies and garnets

when he came
angel's wings tapestry thrown around his shoulders
flapping in the wind as he walked over
her glassy half-sphere threatened to spill over
bloody waves grew tall and rocked against walls
beating cracks into the surface
iron train tracks glowed lava red
bullet train stretched out
shot as a lightning bolt
jolting blush pink body scarlet

he asked for a quivering hand
and then a second red palm
and held them in his
tracing thumbs in circles over her skin
and drawing subsurface whirlpools
scarlet body deepening to crimson
vibration quickening to quaking

then he took out a swiss army knife
from the back pocket of his grey plaid jeans
and put it in her shivering hands
and told her

i want to know you
the real you
show me what's inside

so she takes the swiss army knife

hold the tiny dagger against paper skin
first, needlepoint pinpricks
red dot puddles growing in radii
then surgical incisions
peeling back skin
glistening red meat underneath
then samurai sword slashes
red waterfalls gushing forth
eternal spring of life, the fountain of youth
collecting at the bottom of the well
he erected under her bloodfall
the bottom slurping up the sloshing broth
dead fish and broken coral pieces and train debris
overcooked ingredients skimming dark red surface

he unclasps his cape from his shoulders
dips his white winged banner
into the red fluid
and vigorously swing it back and forth
for all the world to see

i see you now
i saved you
i'm a hero
and you're my louis lane

wave your flag high and proud, boy
wave for all to see
save for she
whose eyes have her own blood
splattered deep in them

- you self-appointed medical leech, you bled yourself out, you. you did this to yourself, you.