Self-Portrait

This is why you need to die

you destroy everything you touch

like a Midas of disease

you revel in the illusion of gold

This is why you need to die

your tongue lashes and snaps

lies spewing from your mouth like vomit

you swear you’re reading His word

This is why you need to die

you stomp around, elephantine and lumpy

squashing their eyes like peeled grapes

you don a ball gown and your tiara

This is why you need to die

you beat them with barbed whips

commands, demands, raining like shrapnel

you drown them in honey and blood

This is why you need to die

you thrust their heads in plastic wrap

hold them in the simmering pond slime

you paint your nails with anguish

This is why you’re dead.