IN A MOMENT OF WEAKNESS I MIGHT BIRTH AN AUDIENCE / AN APOLOGY FOR AN UNFORGIVABLE THING IS ALSO A KIND OF UNFORGIVABLE / ERUPTING CHASMS A WELL OF GRAVITY AN EXCESS OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM / A SHARP TAP AGAINST THE SOLAR PLEXUS BEHIND A FIRM POINT OF CONTENTION / I AM A CONCENTRATED BEAD OF REGRET AGAINST A SOFT BALCONY OF FOAMY INDIFFERENCE / WHEN I ASK YOU TO LOOK AT ME IT IS ONLY IF YOU PROMISE TO LOOK THROUGH THE WRONG END OF THE TELEPHOTO / SO SMALL AND SO FAR AWAY FROM YOU / ONCE AND ONLY ONCE I TOOK THE HAND OF A YOUNGER SELF / BUILT FROM BRIGHT AND FLARING TRUTH / PRESSED IT TO MY BLOATED SPINE / AND SAID FEEL / FEEL WHERE ALL OF MY AVID AND TURGID DENIALS HAVE BURST FORTH FROM / LIKE AN ILLEGITIMATE RICTUS OF BASHFULNESS / TWELVE KITCHENS WEPT OUT OF MY CHEST / ONE FOR EVERY FISHERMAN / FULL OF LADLES AND SOUPS AND SOUS CHEFS AND ENOUGH SALT TO SWALLOW ALL OF MY LATE GRANDFATHER’S AILING HEARTS / AND ALL I COULD DO WAS STACK PLATES / I SAW A MAN GIVE BIRTH TO A DRAWING OF A PARACHUTE IN CHALK MARKER / AND ONLY THOUGHT ABOUT A SICKLY WORLD FILLED TO THE LIPS WITH ARTIFICIAL TRAGEDIES / LOOK HERE WHERE THE WATER LAPS AT THE ROCKS / AND THE MOON JELLIES SLIDE IN TRANQUIL DECAY / THE LITTLE CRABS HAVE NEVER FELT WARM IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES / THEY HAVE NEVER FELT SOFT WITHOUT KNOWING THEY ARE SUDDENLY CLOSEST TO THEIR INSIDES / BEHOLD THE MOUTH / THE ROCKFISH CRAMMED FULL OF ITS OWN GULLET / BURST BY ITS OWN SUDDEN ASCENT / THIS IS WHAT I MEAN WHEN I SAY OUTSIDE PRESSURES ARE REQUISITE TO LIFE / HOW THE CLIMB TO HEAVEN IS ACTUALLY WHAT KILLS YOU / WHEN I WAS ELEVEN YEARS OLD I COVERED MY BODY WITH POWERS OF TWO / THINKING THEY WOULD SMEAR ME BEYOND MY BORDERS / THINKING THEY WOULD TURN ME INTO A KIND OF NUMERICAL KUDZU VINE / ETERNAL LIKE CHILDHOOD OR METASTASIS / WHEN I WAS THIRTEEN I COLLECTED KNIVES AS A UNIT OF MEASUREMENT TO UNDERSTAND THE SIZE OF MYSELF / MY ARM IS ONE BLADE MY HEART IS TWO MY NAME IS A HALF MY FINGERS MY WRISTS MY DELICATE BOYHOOD / AND I MADE SURE THE BLADES FOLDED / IN A DIMINISHING ARITHMETIC / HERE WE ARE AMONG THE ROCKS / HERE AMONG THE LEAVES / HERE AMONG EVERY OTHER KIND OF IMMORTALITY / AND ALL I WOULD SAY IS THAT I AM GLAD NAMES WERE NOT FOUND IN THE WILD / BUT INVENTED ONLY AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF SIN / SO THAT UNLIKE EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS UNIVERSE / THEY HAD THE GENUINE CAPACITY TO DIE
[ID: A self portrait of Wires with her name written on the right. Wires has a tattoo on her right arm of her last name, "HIKARI", in Kanji, on top of a snake and sakura blossoms. She is wearing a black top and is visible only from above the waist. /end ID]