Temptations Of the Flesh
Even with
The cross
Around his neck
And the childhood
Anxiety over
An imaginary man’s judgement
His thoughts
Were more iniquitous
Than my own
He would delineate the way
Shower droplets
Languidly glide down my skin
Leaving behind
A flushed path
On my pallid complexion
That no longer
Wears the perpetual damage
Of past men’s temper
Because his eyes
Can’t fervor over
A dilapidated temple
But he’ll keep
The maze of scratches
My nails leave
As it clutches
The outline
Of my skeleton
While whispering
His name
In the inflection
That causes
claustrophobia in the breath
as it stumbles in his throat
He would sketch
Those scenes for me
In my head
Except he enjoyed
Exorcising
Every trait of me
Cutting off
Every strand
Of bleached hair
Make my hands
Sit in gray water
Until all the black nail polish wore off
Ripping the piercings
From my ears
To fill the holes
With the chants of hymns
Fading out the dense screams
I was raised by
But it all
Fell flat
More than how he felt about the earth
It made me wish those words
From the mangled pages
In that book
Were hand fed
To me
By him
With coquettish eyes
Leaning into
Every idiom
Until
My stomach
Feels abhorrent
From the nocuous ink
As it snuck onto
My tongue
Just so I can say
I spit his deception
Back into his mouth
And even then
His thoughts would still be
More iniquitous than my own
Copyright © Ali Lynn | Year Posted 2024
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