peel //
i feel like maybe
i don’t deserve to sleep
if i act like this
i have never been good
at taking care of anything
myself included
you don’t know that yet though
you realize how truly bare i am
i think you accidentally
snagged my skin
and you just kept pulling
my muscle is red and wet
as you peel me
i feel like an orange
i say
you laugh
you’re silly
you say
and you don’t stop when a vein gets caught
you look at me for guidance
but i’ve never been a very good guide
so i let you do as you will
you carefully tear the vein from the flap of skin
setting the stringy thing back into place
and continue skinning me
have you ever seen someone without their skin
they are truly monsters
since they never stopped someone from doing it
and they look just like the
figures in biology books
red red red
and shiny with blood and plasma
the skin is left in a heap
when it tears off of my stomach
this leaves me
top half covered
bottom half drying in the air
i feel like dehydrated meat
i say
you’re silly
you say
you begin ripping from a new spot
just above my belly button
i hold you hands down
i tell you to stop
i beg for you to stop
but it’s too late and we can’t go back from this
but you go faster now
hoping to cause me less pain
by speeding up the process
blood is dripping at my toes
and running down my legs
and i think flies are beginning to circle me
i am a piece of raw flesh after all
i yell at the flies
i tell them i am not dead yet
but i feel a strange sensation
the flies began laying their eggs
in the folds of my muscles
they wriggle and make my body tingle
my flesh itself feels alive
apart from my own senses
you continue until my scalp slips from my skull
and my skin plops onto the floor
you take in the sight of me
i do not know what i am anymore
i do not feel human
when maggots wriggle in and out of sight
all over my body
i am not human
i say
you’re silly
you say
walking closer
i back away a step
but your face tells me to stop
you wrap me in an embrace
your touch feels more comfortable
than my own skin
Comments (0)
See all