My mama named me Tolerance

But I named my tongue Silence

The fleshy epoxy that holds these teeth tight

Thick with regret

I wanted to tell you, you see

I was born in February

But Silence was born when his shadow consumed

Mine on the wall

I was always so sick with fear

But I was proud of Silence

Because she made them love me

She sighed and moaned and shattered with joy when

You forced the barrel into their crying mouths, your

Finger

Gripped tightly around the trigger

You said the darkness would save us from our sin

Then you peeled back my skin

Stripped my bones of their meat

You seasoned it with salt and wine and called it holy But you didn’t see the smoke pulsing in my spine

And throbbing in my skull

I wanted to tell you, you see

I bit silence of today

Choked and swallowed her down

Opened these lips to bare my teeth at the sun.

by Sky Katz