Perseverance

Cracks splinter—

light seeps through

the soft collapse of bone

static mouth

veins hum violet.

silence thickens

tar sky

over a throat of glass.

their absence

smoke inside smoke

a room caving inward.

splinter blood

ash petals scatter.

bruises

run rivers sideways.

grief grows teeth

spits out only shards of sound.

perseverance:

pulse in the wreckage

feral ember

refusing the dark.