The Mouth of the Crescent

The Mouth of the Crescent

She’s standing in the puddle
where the streetlamp bleeds its yellow light
A fracture in the sidewalk and a splinter in the night
Her jaw is pulled back further than the tendons ought to go
A porcelain disaster in the lamplight’s dying glow
I’m walking through the gravel with a frantic heavy stride
While she drifts behind me like a ghost with nowhere else to hide
The grin is made of ivory and the hunger of the grave
A jagged white obsession that no prayer could ever save
The air is getting thinner as she closes up the space
I can see the wetness of the gums upon that face
I’m fumbling for the door keys with a hand that’s gone to sand
Watching as she reaches out a thin and clawed hand
The smile is all I see now it is filling up the frame
A total occupation of the memory and the name
It’s an anatomical betrayal it’s a rupture of the bone
Leaving me to face the grinning universe alone
The lock is stuck and the darkness is a heavy liquid weight
While the mouth begins to open like a cold and silver gate
I’m screaming at the ceiling but the sound is just a hiss
As I sink into the hollow of that wide and frantic kiss
The grin is the last thing that I’ll ever have to know
Before the industrial shadows finally start to grow