A Diet of Blood Diamonds

A snow rises
imperative as gunshots
In the prism we have many faces
and they all ask different questions

I knew an old man once
who had a project

It took a back seat in his life
when he went to live in my mirror
Now I make friends of bad people
who take up all my time
They chew me up
and I ask if they can walk me home

The impossible decade —
vintage night, blue like dusk —
I spent in a pitfall

He says he must finish it
He’s only ever finished that sentence

My father’s son looks back at me —
externally —
With infinite pity

My friends have a diet of blood diamonds
and marrow on a dish of ice
I serve them to keep them

It comes in phases

Moments — blasts — of clarity

The prism turns,
my face hurts from smiling

I could run away
and change the story
It would be a lonesome one
I worry so much that I’m losing weight

I start with the bones

The snow rises on my chin
as I’m hanging upside-down
Makes you wonder
what was ever true

My friends come looking for me
but I’m buried in the snow
and they hate to be cold
more than to be hungry