Strands of Neon Light by Alex Pauley
CW: Suicide, Violence

strands of neon yellow
arterial
spray
red
pressedbetweenpages
hair dye-stained words
they were more than
trophies
used to be names
something broken open
covered the V in my neck
dripped across
and below
my collarbone
the oily thickness
married with my joints
brilliant and red
caved in from the center
of the fantasies
blissful
torrid
eternal
I took the horrors
like stakes through my palms
I gave you my rib
like in the beginning
pitted bones
bleached in the sun
sharpened to points
slip through the skin
hollow, marrow roads
subclavian tunnel
and the color was gone
from your face
and skin
all
over
the
table
I carve you from clay
spit-blood canvas
splintered visions of violence reduced to atoms
pulverized into carpet
fingerprint on your thigh
touch DNA
a climax at knife point
collapse on the rug
designs monolithic
pyramid stains
blood drains through grey sandstone
pooling beneath
this twisted cityscape
and the soles of my feet
Alex Pauley is a writer from Springfield Missouri, studied creative writing at Missouri State.