1.   the feel-good guilt
      of snipping leaves from stalks.
      of salt on snails.
      of the door you slammed
      just to see if you’d get your finger
      caught in its hinges.


synonyms:
someone else’s tongue
pressed like the barrel of a gun
against your teeth.


2.   hoarding his name
      like glass behind your teeth.
      his initials scrawled in lipstick
      across your clavicle.
      laughter pitched two octaves too high.


synonyms:
craving the weekend like you’d crave a cigarette,
a shot of gin,
a knife to an open wound.


3.    or-
       memories of the sea
       surging between your toes.
       shoes slung across
       telephone wires.

       rewinding the tape back
       not to after the axe fell,
       but before it was even a thought
      in the first place.


synonyms: wouldn’t you want to retell it kinder,
if you could?