Human the Death Dance

On the face of her phone
 Wileen programs a message to herself
 so that when the alarm clock rings
 the screen flashes:
 EVERY DAY IS ONE DAY LESS.
 EVERY DAY IS ONE DAY LESS.
 Jordan.
 Jordan tattoos the words
 FORGIVE ME
 in thick black letters
 down the inside of his arm
 so that when he looks at his wrist
 he will remember not to hate himself so much.
 What he keeps forgetting
 is that there is life after survival.
 After Dave left
 Mary started sticking her face
 between the film projector
 and the movie screen
 so that when the credits roll
 she still gets to be somebody.
 Whenever Tara's past comes back she mashes
 chalk into the sidewalk
 until her knuckles bleed.
 She scribbles and scrapes
 scribbles and scrapes
 till the words take shape
 and this is what they say
 I wanna die muther****ers
 die DIE muther****ers
 hold tight if I love ya
 cause it might not last long.
 Y'all, we're all gonna die.
 That's the exciting part.
 It's learning how to live for a living,
 that's the tricky stitch.
 Just ask Denise
 whose family taught her when she came into this world
 that Family equals Love
 so Denise took that **** seriously
 but after a lifetime of craving acceptance from their cruelty
 she now finds herself jamming Polaroid pictures of these people into her typewriter
 and pounding out the last letter of the word mercy
 over and over and over again.
 She strikes the key Y.
 Y Y Y Y Y?
 The answer?
 The answer comes in the form of a handwritten letter from the moon.
 It reads:
 This is brutally beautiful.
 So are we.
 This is endless.
 So are we.
 We can heal this.
 Signed,
 Crater Face
 P.S. See me for who I am.
 We've got work to do.
 But my father
 he didn't read moon
 he didn't speak moon
 and he didn't write moon
 so there was no letter found next to his body in the garage
 when he chose to leave this place on purpose
 without saying where he was goin' or why.
 There are still days you can catch me
 tape recording eternal silence
 and playing it backwards for an empty room
 so I can listen to his dieing wish
 shh.
 Yes,
 it's true,
 the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree,
 but my family tree
 was in an orchard on a hill
 that rolled me to the river
 and that river
 ripped me through the rapids
 and those rapids
 rushed me into this moment
 right here right now
 with you
 at the mouth.
 This is my church.
 And if church is a house of healing
 hallelujah welcome
 come in as you are
 have a look around
 stay out of the porn.
 There are massive stacks of bad choices in my backyard.
 Haven't finished cleaning the place up
 but I'm workin' on it
 and clearly I have not yet reached enlightenment
 for more than a fleeting moment
 but I'm tryin'
 and I found somethin' here I want ya to have.
 It's not much
 just a story
 but it's all I've got
 so take it.
 It's called Dillon.
 Dillon's drug of choice was more
 so Dillon took more
 and more and more and more
 until the day he woke up
 babbling in a pool of his own traffic jam
 realizing he was killing off the best parts of himself
 and claiming he could read peoples' skin.
 When Dillon looked down at his heart flap
 the skin read Boy, go find your spine and ride it outta here.
 Wileen's gut said Day 1.
 Jordan's arms were FULLY FORGIVEN.
 Mary's face: The Endless.
 Tara's knuckles: Healing.
 Denise's fingertip said see?
 And my smile
 Dillon said my smile it said Fix it
 so I came here to the mouth of the river
 to look at my own reflection in the moonlight
 and see what it says for myself
 down my whole body
 where it is written
 in the skin
 says
 P.S.
 See me for who I am.
 We've got work to do.
 As for Crater Face,
 I don't speak for that guy
 His skin
 is a brutally beautiful
 handwritten letter
 from the sun.