POETRY
bleeding stars by Layla Landrum
i’m sorry i tried to stop you when you swallowed another girl in the bathroom. cut her up with a butcher’s knife until her skin stuck to your nails. the blood wouldn’t wash out, and all the moonlight fell from the windows, even the dark couldn’t protect you from what you ruined. my star-crossed savior complex, you in the doorway, forgetting yourself, forgetting you cannot hold me down forever. tell me you love me just to kick me like a dog what’s wrong? why’re you crying? stop being so selfish, not everything is about you. this isn’t about you. you think yourself strong some kind of heavenly body on earth, but i haven’t even grown yet, my bones ache with promise. for now, you can still fit me into the palms of your hands. wrap your limbs around me like i am the one with teeth. how dare you make me feel like it was my fault you were the black hole; invisible destroyer, all-consuming. hurt me so good i thought it was euphoria. every scream i ever summoned died in my throat when your hands snuck down my shoulders, settled on wrists. broke open the ribs inside of me just to make another place for yourself. you’ve always been an egoist. this wretched body was never mine to begin with in the first place i’m just a ghost walking around in my own skin, a bad dream & a bad liar. you’re so drunk on your power, too caught up in your own head to notice the way it’s choking me— you’re choking me your love burning all the way down like craters. you weave bombs around my veins set them off like stars just to blame me for it, leave me out of my mind. i’m throwing myself into the fires so i don’t even notice you leave,
26 TUFTS OBSERVER OCTOBER 11, 2021
