INK STAINS
a horrid tale in four parts
part one
He eats his chips from a newspaper
The ink stains his greasy fingers
He licks his lips
the ink runs down his throat
filling his bloated gut
part two
Scratch your name into my skin
The black ink runs into my open veins
Black ink
octopus ink
Spreads like a cancer
Spreads like a broken water
Spreads wide
like teeth in a dentist chair
they knew it would come
part three
Tell us a story mummy
Tell us a story to write on our flesh
To weave in our hair
To keep under our pillow
Tell us a story
To breath in the night
Tell us a story to keep away the storm
part four
He breathed his words into my nostrils
I can still smell his rotten core
He breathed his words
and they took hold
like a cancer in my soul
His rotten breath like wisps of wind
Like the breath of god that hovers on the water
Warning
He spoke into my sleeping seeds
Warning
told them stories of failure
and abandonment
And need
"Stay in bed", he said,
"Stay in bed;
stay dead", he said,
"Stay in bed or catch a cold".
Don’t tell tales