I want to love / her accident / her teeth
chipped on my name / her body quaked a
fidget / tossing witchbones in the cinder / at
night we sleep / we wink / we razor-slick
the ceiling / board a crossfixed longing /
creased with heat / at night she smears my
lips / til wincing / til I thock We off the
tongue /  smithereen our seance / desiccate
the sanctuary / because she won’t dimlight
in me any longer / won’t blankspace or
burrow / down a bed / her protest is a jay’s
wing / jabbed into my jaw / here the
violence spreads / here its virulent velocity
/ the violet bruisepush left my skin / the
fingers clawed / tattoo me with her mark  /
her indelible survival

CD Eskilson is a queer nonbinary poet, editor, and educator. Their work appears or is forthcoming in the Cortland Review, Peach Mag, Yes Poetry, and Moonchild Magazine, among others. CD is Poetry Editor of Exposition Review and a reader for Split Lip Magazine. They live in Los Angeles.