There
see her
shallow breath

sternum contracted
she makes small movements
careful not to breath 

small smaller 

never perfect enough
tethered  to a leash

she tries to heel

having grown dog arms

she lives without love 

shadows move easily

within her like a song
see her crown of razor blades
her robe of mirrors

dry heaving on the bathroom floor
a sanctuary really
she is tracing the lines
on the tile’s grout
tiny roads to the River Styx
to Devil's Gulch and the Maurice Cemetery 

she hears things now
and pretends she's a widow
the ghost pine behind the house 

are her sisters 

beckoning her at night

he's hollering again

about how she ruins things 

she mumbles under her breath

cussing him in her languages
he calls her mad
sometimes she believes him
and keeps various powders

hidden in a compact, lines up the Xanax 

along her inseam, tucks them behind her ear

tiptoeing through the formal garden

chugging the vodka

dreaming of oblivion

she lives in the 4th sky

followed by birds
and knows how true monsters

despise what they love 

- Jolaoso Prettythunder