I could peel back the skin
and fill my limbs with half inflated
balloons
Then maybe you would witness me fall
gracefully
But I am ancient soggy knots
matted in the intwine
coated in the debris of overzealous tying
Everything crumbles
Everything always crumbles
and the jade was too bright to be true
It smells like incense when my palm is
closed
and feels like terror when my fingers part
Breath between the knuckles
as my teeth fall bloody and broken
To the ground
It wasn’t until I touched my throat
That I realized no air was passing through
I had been dead for a long time
