The Persistence of Memory, Collaboration with Sara Jama

Caustic memories dissolve on my tongue Lingering tastes of battery acid and nicotine Cause me to choke on putrid saliva. Staring at melting walls, clocks tick in unison. Distorted birdsong hums outside of jagged windows Under the warped sun, an unrepentant landscape blurs. Freshly budding peonies liquefy; Veils thin, evaporating the delusion of reality. Why must I mould to the edges at your bidding, Contort to the point of my own dysfunction? For such fleeting worship, this devastation lingers - Devours and disconnects my inner workings. I lie highlighted in shadow, a beacon of quiet distress; A dislodged scapula desperate to be labelled angelic. Grounded, wingless, and forever out of time - Wearing the last face you cared for as a comforter. Neon venom warming twisted arteries, Sinister patches stitched upon a breaking back. A narcissist's crown digging into my head Like rusted nails plunged into worm-infested wood— Permanent disconnection, frayed cerebral cortex. Blurred vision obscures insidious figures hiding in hushed corners, Whispering in Babylonian tongue. Hallucinatory illusions haunt What was a once-pristine sanctuary, Now morphing into a surrealistic asylum. Revelation exists above shadow in temporal machination, I'm consciousness not yet swept up with sand; Closed eyes cleanse my corneas - I rest in a balm of clarity. Your power superficial, a cankerous cataract peeled clean off. It is you who is bereft, washed up with the shell you created. All the walls of your empty room fallen flat, As I unfurl in the mirror beyond the shoreline, I realise - it was never me you couldn't stomach.