We are (Not) Awake (Life, by Xin Niu Zhang)

Look,

Here are the girls in flannel

Lanky and alone.

Look at the rust crusting their elbows

(Scraped raw)

The rust around the corners of their grins

(All carved out)

The rust and spit in their sighs

And on the songs they breathe

They sing,

“Let them forget me.”

Look,

Here is a map

To the jigsaw of blood and breaks

And bluffs

On their rust red lips

Look,

Here is the sheet music

To that yawning cacophony of hope and hate and hurt in their voices

And in the slouching shape of their shoulders.

Well. Look again.

Because we are not

             	hurt;  

Because this is not a

                    	bluff;  

Who is forcing you to look a w a y ?

Look,

There go the girls in flannel

Lanky and alone.

They sing,

“Let them damn me.”