of highway decay and honesty

i am roadkill; there lies liquid

asphalt beneath my nails.

exhale carbon monoxide and car

exhaust between my parted lips, and i will tell you that

i am carrion; i am the disenfranchised lover.

the vultures know my taste. the jackals nip at the

pulse of my wrist and laugh and laugh and

laugh.

yellow painted lines stretch into hallucinogenics across

dried tar and potholes and intersections and

did you not see me? i think

you did—at least as you drove by. as you drove past.

if you pressed a kiss to my knuckles, i wonder if you would still map out

the speed bumps and laugh, startled. laugh and laugh and

laugh.

there is streetlight red in my ledger that rotted its way between my gums and

i still want to ask you: there were so many signs that told you to stop.

why didn’t you?

so now i’ve become the roadkill, the villain living off vasoline but

i wish upon speed limits, you know.

and i hope that you find heaven on the highway.