the mathematics of your end

your shell unclenches
reaching in to / grabbing
onto the

muscle: tongue.

i thumb through your
layers. you unfold like
leaves from the
stem, like letters
written against

rocks in june
or your
flesh that you
had scraped away with
the metal like

i had. like we had
both tried to forget /

your jaw prying
showing
your teeth off
like stars.

in your
struggle

you are like the
veins. you are
like the tears that
drip
you
are

something i
do not understand

, yet.

you & i are
like geometry.

the shapes, the
whole circumference

the lines that
fold on our skin
still