evacuated from safety and warmth
forced to hold open a broken window
with shattered glass meeting flesh

when I first had to breathe
I opened myself up and
the world tore through me

cold are my hands and feet
as the heat bleeds out of me
into those who hold me

they put hinges in my lungs
they put doorknobs in my entrails
they put a key hole in my skull

cochineal to blood and
celadonite to gall and
lapis lazuli to marrow

I ate the yolk
and I drank the glaire
but I couldn't break the shell