[redacted] [redacted]

Shay Alexi

 

a boy named [redacted]
a boy [redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted] [redacted] my body
I redacted my body
unspooled that      taut blushing
knit & with it his hands
I redacted his hands
I redact his hands
still now years later
the predictable violence
the fingers
enmeshed in [redacted]
[redacted] is in
my [redacted] my
head my facebook feed
wearing pink
amongst flowers
eating strawberry
ice cream
the devil
has a cold tongue
warm hands
good teeth
the devil
votes
& loves
his sister
the devil [redacted] my body & after
my body stayed
undead how boring
how dare she
what’s the better   story
the hard earned summer
or january’s mangling
I tell of the
alive despite & somewhere
a reader aches to redact
the alive I know
you don’t want me dead
just the brackets pried back
you want the cold that must
have made me
I don’t blame you
what good is a girl but
the brutality that bore her
but a murder mystery a moral
something you can sink
your teeth in
redacted [redacted] me
redacted redacts me
still now years later
the predictable violence
a tree buds
back despite
the winter’s maiming & everyone
longs for
the frost