Originally published by the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective

the line
between the face
I show the world
and my shadow self
increasingly grows thin
superimposed images
blur
no longer clear
where one ends
and the other begins
I walk
deliberately
heel to toe
on the
knife’s edge
between
light and
dark
heaven and
hell
embracing the risk
there is wire in my blood
tang of copper
taste of hot iron
when I lick the rich
red droplets
off my fingers
from the scabs
I deliberately
scratch open
I like how alive I feel
when I bleed
there is purity
to my pain
a high that happy
never offers
I know what I am supposed
to want
but my shadow self
wants to drive for a while
that part of me doesn’t give a
shit
about content
shadow me craves
tightrope-walk-over-the-abyss recklessness
90-mile-an-hour drives
down winding dirt roads
back alley open-mouthed kisses
in a thunder-storm
there is wire in my blood
and I am the lightning rod

© 2017 Revised 2018 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All Rights Reserved