Clinodactyl

An instant of blunt trauma -- a word, a glance, a touch -- the bruising touch of your fingers inside me & I feel my tendons & veins, ligaments & muscles calcifying within me. I feel myself inside me as you hurt I feel myself inside turning into bone -- every little touch, glance, word sinks into my skin, burrows within my flesh & digs its claws into me. I feel you inside me, I feel the bones growing inside, cutting off all movement, curling my hands into claws, my feet into hooks & my spine straight as a sword thru my back cutting me in half. I know I feel you cutting me in half make two in me imprisoned in me as the bones grow, the bones grow inside me as I grow a second skeleton & gradually -- a glance, a word, a touch -- my body becomes my cage.