The Cover Up

A poem about heartbreak and a tattoo.

My phoenix flames up my body.
My tail and wings afire.
My tail feathers caress my calf,
My rectrix reaching down to tickle my toes.
My raptorial claws dig into my hip,
Slightly above the curve of my buttocks,
My hallux a gouge in my side.
My wings spread across my pallid back.
My emerald secondaries lift me up;
My violet primaries maneuver my flight.
My flank heaves with the exertion of my climb.
My breasts rise and fall with every breath of my bodies.
My mandibles click my swan-song done
My nares detect a tang of smoke.
My filoplumes warm my inner ember.
My body encased in
My phoenix encased in
An inferno.
Sparks shoot from me as I burn away my mistake.
My phoenix.
My body.
My fire.
My ashes.
And still, his name shows through.