bradass87

Bradley Manning strung up lamb
eat our young
swear allegiance
    to numb as a tank
while the good ol boys
keep the fake peace
we pay for as a nation of sheep

we all were boys who once wept for
wounded birds, i swear we were all once sentient and kind
  but after the beatings and drinking and daily lies
     not every soldier survives

i did
but i'm still bleeding from every hole
staring at the scales
that weigh to kill or to heal

aqua velva

razor blood rained down

from his chin

he kept cutting it up

putting toilet paper

ink blots on the pocks

his shoulder freckles

fell into my hands

like tinsel i couldn't peel

sticking to me against my will

the shower was beating

out the whistling

he did while he worked

rolling rock bottles

sweating green glass drops

the mirror getting fogged up

veiling his laugh

and underneath the laugh,

these mangled mewls

mesmerizing me in place

every hour i shuddered

through the throbs of impalement

blue eyes rotating

like sirens in silence

watching him kill

in the stale, camel-smell air

his pain

having become this fat, waxed weapon

swung my way like a pendulum

that never went back to its side