Isabel Straw, “Weeping Teeth

The Opiate, Winter Vol. 20 Weeping Teeth

Isabel Straw

Claws weep as they crack the flesh trembling ivory palms pushing the dagger deep It is so much harder to kick a fallen soldier, Your hollow aching carcass pours gangrene through my feet knocked back by iron ankles to waste hopeless at my knees It is so much harder to cut an infant leech, Withered, the child stands sobbing grasping with blackened arms they will drench you in their oil he will set fire to your scars It is so much harder to turn your back on deathly innocence, The hands reach out of the ocean from lungs that fill with the sea now scrub the salt into their sinking wounds each time you choose to leave, See the hungry floor of the seabed it pulses with beating hearts no matter how much you love them their teeth will devour your parts.