Slow slow slow. And then much too fast.
They believed everything they were ever told.
Mouths spread open, wide like a carnival tunnel;
Glittering, polished teeth with bright petal pink lips.
It was quick. And words are passed around on plates
Covered in sugar and cinnamon, so that they taste better.
And people devoured those words,
As though they couldn’t get enough.
But it was supposed to be a secret. He was supposed to be a secret.
A whisper,
Whispered among friends. Of Him and I; of the vampire and me. They drank lies
Like sipping bitter wine. Washed down with the grapes of
My metal heart. Like,
one: she would not stay, and
two: one of them would
Break their rusted heart. I would catch something, gliding on the tattered wings
Of a moth. “She and the vampire will be back together.”
We never stopped,
and all around us words spiraled to the ground,
Crashing into hot pavement,
lit up in blue flames.
We never stopped.