All his friends/ the
ones he'd been too miserable to love / the ones he'd stung with
sourness/ the receiver's
cold click/ the ones he'd bent backwards on the sickbed
of desire/ the ones
who'd followed him down the winding/ slimy stair/ his ex-wives/
ex-mates/ & their
kids/ all came to the party/ bringing booze which he shouldn't've
drunk/ but he did/
& dope/ to smoke away the smell of death on his skin/
windchimes rang with
the sea/ stars pricked in his chest/ tinkling on their strings/ as
if
they'd been muffled
before/ as if moths'd laid grubs in his head/ colour ran into his
eyes/ blue/ green/
red/ he thought of yellow/
it was spreading like
wine/ some chemical lock in his mind/ sprung open/ at the
tablets' sleek tap/
who'd've thought a small pill?/
a wife put her hand
on his shoulder/ he tasted sweet ash on her lips/ their son
showed him a knee/
pink skin grinning round the scab/ a girl sang by the fire/ hands
golden on the strings/
a child kicked with her boots & sparks laughed up/ he doused
the dark stone in
his groin with alcohol until it glowed/ he walked towards the
singer/
they all sang/ that
song you sing at birthdays/ had he said sorry for the things he'd
said?/ wine blunted
the axe he'd cut them all down with/ a friend since highschool
hugged him/ &
the skin below his ear was wet/ a wary handshake from his
eldest/ his first
wife's warm forgiveness like perfume he hadn't smelt in years/
the singer wrapped
him in her hair/
you want to leave it
there/ at the Nightmare is Over Party/ you want to wake up
from the dream of
falling/ into someone sighing in the dark beside you/ the
bomb explodes/ you
jump/ then laugh/ hold out your glass/ you want new
fingerprints/ new
skin/ a sleek white key/ ten pills above your heart/ a foil
between
you/ and the dream
of failing/
it
all
comes
down
to
a rusty
lock/
stars wincing like
cogs/
the country
track/
the tap & the
hose/
the flick of the
key/
the white forked tree
in the field/
& the
night
expanding
&n
bsp;
like love