Slashes
like feathers
of a pungent steel
Cuts as deep as fingers
To help me think
and help me feel
To stop the blood
is to stop the pain
and to maintain the poison within
Drink and be happy,
kiss and be sad
the venom grows stronger
at the deferring of sin
Let the feathers,
smudged with red tears,
clatter
on the path left behind
what I thought might be wings
pulled me down
I am blind