Flammable things

Have you ever tried to huff paint?

It’s intoxicating. It’s suffocating. Consuming.

It’s like swallowing a tiny gas that builds a fire in your lungs.

Have you ever spilled thinner in your hands

Soaked it in alcohol and rubbed detergent against it all at once?

It doesn’t hurt really. Not at first.

 

 

The best solutions always come with the black flame at the back

It wants to be avoided but nothing works as good

You use it anyway. You get a little careless and use too much

Pretty soon you’ll find your lungs starting to give in

You take a desperate gasp to try to save yourself from death

It’s funny how alive you could feel the moment your heart’s about to burst.

Skin Disease

My father always tells me to keep my hands on the side

“Don’t touch your face, don’t run them through your arms.”

I was well aware that gazing at the sun would run red to the surface

I know well enough how fast my scratches bled.

 

 

Sometimes I’d still expect otherwise, it never hurts, it won’t bleed

So I dig the round edges of my nails deep against my skin and run it

A presence lingers but it was never pain, I look scourged but I don’t mind

I look at the mirror and see drizzles of blood spreading across my face

“Things are not as bad as they look.” is all I said.