hey, i’ve missed you, summer skin—
never coming back again.

hades’ ghosts whistle through
sunburnt windows; hot wind
kills me softly. hell haunts us
in the form of blue shadows,
orange skies, and green clouds,
stealing color from the earth and
wearing it like a broken trophy.
this demon kisses the underside of
my thighs, leaves puddles of
sweat-scented tears like hickeys
after sunday. oh summer baby, where’ve
you gone, away from me? the
lavender bush falls down, weeps
on its side; the spirits trade you
away for a glass of wine. my
white hands look transparent against
your furious light, ghostlike. the
demons throw themselves into the
sun, and their ashes fill the sky with the
smell of dirty rum. i swallow your
ashes like bitter medicine, and it
flutters out of my chest like a
broken-winged bird. autumn crawls out
of your chest and squeezes it so hard that
it bursts. you eat yourself alive and it
looks like the devil has finally died.

summer lived and summer lost
summer lit and summer’s

gone.