ryan hooper

Mouth of Void

With mucky water,

you swallow my voice.

A hand cramps citrus mouth.

      A gulp of taffeta.

I rash, eavesdrop on keratin.

      Your nail tips draw

      blebs of blood,

      pomegranate red.

My paper arms shape peaks—

      then sink.

I trace your veins,

      then erase them.

Once, I owned my voice.

      My voice sang mountains,

      mourned my hunger-skin.

I stretch

      back towards

            it—

[mute]