Pernicious
By Shelley M. Latreille
Thousands have gazed detrimentally upon you.
You’ve been stalked and traced through time.
Ink drips from your surfaces like blood from voluptuous scarlet veins disguised in blue.
I await your mesmerizing self-destruction, but it never surfaces.
Time waits for no entity, so I must initiate.
I vigorously tear you limb from limb.
I delicately peel the drying skin from your torso.
I wrap myself warmly in your skin, like a leather bound book.
Your essence is no more.
No longer can your pages be viewed or turned.
Your pernicious wisdom abruptly ceases to fill one’s head.
The creative sound of fire blossoms as the heat and flames destroy your existence.
In the aftermath, your ashes float slowly away towards the glowing sunset as the warmth of your skin tightens around me.
