I.

I was staring out the

window when the crimson shots pierced

the horizon

left sodden streaks

through my hair

you were screaming through a bloodbath in the next

room

and even after I

burned him with a cigarette

27 times

and crushed his elbow with a

hammer the

man beside me claimed the

sky was simply the purest azure he’d

ever seen

II.

The sun was bleeding

pouring down lighter fluid that burned through pastures

through breezes leaving rustling leaves rustling in the wind

holding open rifts in the sky where you

and I saw the clouds move to

sneak glances through the holes

in Orion’s belt

and listened to the ocean’s

last rasping breaths as you

III.

handed me the knife

IV.

I knew you wouldn’t cover your eyes or

drown out the sobbing

with the year old earmuffs

first the bloodsplatter

then the peeling of muscle

from muscle

from tendon and bone

the grass was scorched to brown

but the still beating

heart threw out the

summer’s first rain