Scorched Letter with the Seal Unbroken

Or, Dahlia Dahlia Dahlia

Dahlia,

Dear, Dahlia

Read between the lines Dahlia

Dahlia, I miss you

Dahlia, I miss seeing your face

Dahlia golden in the moonlight with her headphones on

Dahlia, can I listen?

Dahlia, I hate you so much

I wish you were dead Dahlia

Dahlia, I thought about you every day

I screamed and clawed at peeling floral wallpaper for you but

Dahlia, you weren’t there

-

Dahlia, tell me I’m not crazy

Dahlia, tell me what you meant

When you held me in the dark like that Dahlia,

Why did you do that?

Why were your arms so loose, Dahlia?

Dahlia, when I heard your heartbeat, ear pressed against your sternum like a dull silver stethoscope, what did I hear?

What was beating in there Dahlia?

-

Dahlia, did you write me letters?

Did they burn nice and pretty, Dahlia?

Dahlia, I miss you up on that hot stage, up in those blinding lights, down beneath the risers and the bleachers and the holy goose-bumped flesh

Dahlia, you shined like God

god God god dahlia Dahlia

god, why did you leave me? God,

Dahlia, why were you there?

Dahlia like the honey that binds the locusts, that traps the flies

Dahlia like the golden calf

Dahlia, I miss searching for you in that heart-cold wine-dark sea

Dahlia, I miss the pain between my fingers, I miss the blood on my knees

Dahlia, can you do me a favor? Can I wash your face again,

Dahlia? Dahlia?

Dahlia cold as stone on the outside

Dahlia, the statue of David is beautiful but he has no heart, he’s marble all the way through Dahlia

Do you bleed, Dahlia?

I do, Dahlia, I bleed

You watched me, at your feet that day

Dahlia, the audience in front of that god-forsaken stage was all me

I was in every chair and you knew it

Dahlia, punch me again with that diamond ring, hit me again with those marble fingers Dahlia

Dahlia, didn’t you love me?

Dalhia, Dahlia

Nothing gold can stay, Dahlia

I watched you walk away