MEAT/BONE

Teeth pulling, tugging at the skin.
Tongue lifting it up, so that teeth can find better purchase.
Flesh slowly tearing away in jagged strips.
Blood rises up and pools around the nail.
It tastes warm and metallic in my mouth.
I move from one finger to the next.
Each one a small sacrifice,
Blood and Flesh.
An offering to what, and for what,
I do not know.

The remnants--gristle and bone,
That's all that is left.
A few ragged pieces of flesh still cling,
But most have been cleaned free.
My hands cast grotesque shadows against the wall.
Blood runs like strings,
A macabre marionette.

The pen slips from my hands.
Not so easy to use, to hang on to.
Paper streaked in crimson.
What makes it down is unintelligible,
Painted in gore.
Painted with life.