Scraped Cheek Blues

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Scraped Cheek Blues read by Josh Kight.

Scraped Cheek Blues

I’ve been up all night
and I have out-lived myself.
Shirtless at 3 am
A soft broth of fear
mingles with the freckles
on my shoulders
pulling bones down
to the lustrous floor
where you’ll see my reflection skitter
and announce my final answer .

I’ve got eight ways to tell you

that my heart is stirring under James River Mud.

That I don’t sleep anymore, I dream….of Gauze.

That I don’t lust , I slither like Eve’s copperhead.

That I see love scorched to tan in need of a hose.

That my attic is open to all.

That I have an appetite for disruption and the priests can see it.

That I don’t smoke because I don’t burn.

That you can come home now and end my vigil,

While laying drunk on the driveway

with a scraped cheek staring at Orion’s Belt.

Joshua Kight  12/4/08