making poetry bleed

for salvatore

i grab a fistful
of your poems
and squeeze so hard
that words and
sentences ooze
through my fingers.

squeeze harder
and the
words explode
into letters.

the alphabet
runs down my arm,
dripping blackly
from my elbow.

punctuation
squirt from
between my fingers
and splatter
against the walls.

when i am finished
my hand is
inky and trembling
and the empty pages
wait for more.

 

-published in Thunder Sandwich #20