

Ruinous and Jettison You

by Flower Conroy

Helicopter sky. The stars slit their glittery wrists
& what drips out, drips

into two crashing seas.
Every time I hear your name, I think how skin, cut

from the same embryonic cloth as the brain
& nervous system, gives away

our feelings. Warm or cold anger? Forest
in my mouth. I awake choking

on pearls. The room aglow with thick red
light, as if I stood in the threshold

of a burning room or under a shower of blood-
champagne. The last sentence

you spoke before
leaving, seared into me—

while outside the green world shivered. Love
like a maniac, I said

to myself, live like you’re doused
in gasoline & holding a lamp to which

the mirror replied, smile; you are in-
flammable, you are the night.