Neurotica

Lost her name in the sea
overboard off the side,
it pulsates below
dragged in/out by the tide.
Just another Natasha
all fishnets and smiles
broken-loved mouth:
black rose that beguiles.

Click-clack/tick-tack
over the tiles to the sink
to hawk up old sperm
and wash off the stink
of dirty-dog paws
and manicured claws
uncaring caresses
and unsightly sores.

She looks in the mirror:
sees a fragment/a scatter
a gobble-groped quim
gnawed down to a tatter.
Breast-belly butt-thighs
a gross jumble of meat
fat finger-food buffét
grab all you can eat.

Squinted spotlighting
bright crescents of tears
brain raw and edgy
full of broken-tooth gears.
Fresh blood on her thighs
under lycra and lace
and burns on her nipples
to teach her her place.

Joe says that he loves her
as he brings down the cane
coming by every Tuesday
just to hurt her again.
It's her eyes that he likes:
their Siberian haze
and her translucent skin
with its malnourished glaze.

He wraps her in cold-packs
and fills her with ice
puts blue on her lips
and inspects her for lice.
Swills pills by the fistful
and shaves all her hair
photographs all her angles
under a thousand-watt glare.

Chill flesh gone still now
pulse slow in the vein
breathe in bare whispers
wracked rigid with pain.
He clambers onto and into
- covers her like a shroud;
she remembers her birth name
and cries it out loud.