Triptico

I.

I shall see you rising with the late night sunset.
Under dim lights,
covered with thin white lies
you will come, as always, to protect my carcass.

I was a child of your vanity
so proud and curious.
Bringing clarity to your scattered shadows
while you were an alibi for staying in my deserted valleys

where did we put our trust?

Precious virtue of anonimacy
Treasure the intimacy of our gut
so we can weep together all the widows
we forgot to name and hold

Pick me up in the highway, where you last saw me,
sew the lashes to my eye
and wait with me until the day hits me
cause if I can’t sleep then I can’t breathe
and I don’t want you to grieve me

I betrayed our secrets
so that you would need me

My skin is scarless
your eyes red scarlet, blood
we couldn’t care less about the pool in my bed
or the mess that we made
by flooding the room with letters

I wanna be swallowed by a yellow sea crest
and fall asleep amid yellow flowers, feathers,
wrap me inside leather skin
and let me sleep for hours still

I like the taste of dirt because it doesn’t hurt my lungs as much as time
devours them.

I’m hung to your hipbones as you are to mine,
may they rest where they lay waiting for a wake up call.

II.

fleshcoversflesh
and bones belong no body
l o n g lines

or veins

like rivers

dry when carelessness is stronger than intention

intentions are never gold
and hearts pump blood not g a s o l i n e

III.

I could eat a church
as if it was candy
cause maybe holiness has a sweet taste
but I couldn’t know.
I eat white sugar straight out of the bag
and drag words straight out of my guts

I’m jetlagged

My head feels heavy
but my hands and eyes are
so light

it’s the drug wearing out,
drying

I don’t tear
but I’m crying

I’m tired,
I feel like sleeping

And now that I wrote what I had to
I can go home, and rest.

Mom said it was okay

Mirame a la cara cuando te hablo

_____

Laura Useche De la Cruz is a Colombian Italian artist and anthropologist, born under the number 17 of a Saturnine month. She writes, she cuts, she glues, and she sings. Her first work of poetry and collage, “Hienas Flacas,” was published in 2019. Her favorite writers are Jaime Sabines, Alejandra Pizarnik, Cesar Vallejo, and Gloria Anzaldùa.