Peeling back the skin.
Pushing the pleasure in.
Holding the great escape
under the tongue,
and a gun
in the palm of your hand.
Never really were the type
to ask a lot of stupid questions.
Standing out in the fields,
never making all those empty gestures.
For you it was always
about getting down
to business.
All the way in,
or all the way out.
You never saw any middle ground
in this.
Pushing it in ,
and pulling away again.
Loving the way the light looks
when you’re playing along the edge.
One second away
from cutting it off,
crashing the car,
cashing your chips in.
I’ll never forget
the way you grin.
Excited and nervous laughter.
Never sure,
but never scared.
Heavy petting every disaster.
Something about you
would draw them in.
I never asked,
and you’d never tell.
What was Heaven to them,
would have been your Hell.
You never fit the style,
you never heard the call.
I think sometimes
you’d wish
that the world would open up
and swallow us all.
Reductionist to think
you simply didn’t care.
pulling back the layers,
push it in,
there’s still some feeling there.
You didn’t end up
dead or numb,
just like the rest.
Only the wise followed you,
only idiots
celebrate your death.
HG – 2020
