cavities

Free Verse Poem by Liana Cass

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---

swim around in the sweat
waiting for a new twist of the knife
varicose remembrances
grasp for love in the stoplights

french kissing melodies
as the road further goes
asphyxiate the love
sullen silent strangers hold

let me pick apart the taste
savoring you sweetly
devouring fear that hungry left
the crumbs to slow my breathing

emaciated ecstasy
drowns the truth as it throbs;
that I was always too hard to love
begging for you prove me wrong

a rage ripples through 
my marrow as you
mirror such false empathy
your saccharine words 

fuel my toothache
but never satisfy the taste
my sleeveless hearts
empty themselves

nostalgia’s heartbeat 
left to rot
blackened hands defile 
everything I touch

ever dripping sickly ooze
Midas’ might decays
molded juice clings to you
the ferment of love stays

broken records shred  
veins of perdition hues 
blistered throats sing quietly 
to the thoughts left by you

love bought with cavities
leaves unanswered through the door
how long till I find it?
how long till I'm no longer sore?

---

Liana is a college student in Boulder, CO. They are studying to become an English teacher one day. They spend their time reading, writing, listening to music, and enjoying time with their friends and cats. They wrote this piece as an ode to unrequited love, searching for something to fill them up but being left with an ever-aching emptiness.