Do you remember him? she asked
the shiver that consumed my vessel was like
that of a snake, baring its teeth

fangs bore into the heart but
where was the heart
the heart in which a lone assailant had
stripped-nails tearing at each seam

the cloth once a dress, no more
a dress – no more a cloth, but
a fabrication of the mind.

Do you remember him? she begged
the ringing of the alarm was like
the screeching of a car

horns blaring into the eardrums
where the muscles in the body in a
fervent dance stripped each other nude

pale underneath the golden fingers of
the sun – the sun spoke his might, fists
scraping against flesh

flesh vibrating against bone – bone
grinding against emptiness, a puddle
stood for the sun's despair

But where was the soul? she wondered
the cold air whispered, like claws
scratching against silk – silk unwoven

unshed, and held under the care
of a worm – but of that worm floating
on the cloud of heat and vapor

fractured it lay on the cloud of
heat and vapor-silk broken,
it lay on the cloud of heat and vapor

I don't remember him – I said
his soul, an egg broken lay on
the cloud of heat and vapor

silently a ring sounded, like oxygen
oozing into a crevice, the snake
sought shelter – I remember – and the needle
sewed the dress back together again