Lent Poem #2: Plagued

by Adam Parrow

Did you know that sunken treasures of
chipped sea glass aren’t visible through a sea of red?

Did you know that band-aids swim in a filling sink like
smooth skinned creatures that rose to plague you?

Did you know that your requests bit at
my face and my ears with buzzing wild fury?

Did you know that gin-drenched heads float on
swarming stings which fly them out the open door?

Did you know that a promise dies on contact when
it is met with remembrances of your lies, which consume it?

Did you know that blood bubbled and boiled inside
my veins as I squeezed my finger to let more of it fester and flow?

Did you know that the dull thump of a heartbeat falls heavy with
aches in my brain, hailing down on my broken crown?

Did you know that the empty boxes were left for
memorials of the ravenous devouring of their fruits?

Did you know that shoelaces act as
treacherous thrushes in the milky dark these nights?

Did you know I wrote on your wall in blood to
protect you like little lambs lost in the night-time silence?

No, you don’t know, because I scrubbed the wall clean,
and when you tell me that you are ok, I try to believe the decree,
through you’ve proven yourself a liar.