I just came across your corpse bride au again after seeing it a while back and that one bendystraw doodle just. Sent the brain worms (or maggots in this case) screaming and running.
The river speaks in your voice.
through a throat full of stones.
I lay where you left the world,
drunk enough to make the stars sway sideways,
skin slipping from my arms in long black ribbons,
like theater curtains after the fire.
You always did love an exit.
Below, the river foams white at the teeth,
Not whole. Never whole again.
Maggots writhing in the shape of devotion,
your grin reconstructed in larvae,
your hands remembered by worms,
your ribs picked clean and reassembled wrong
caught in the mud like pearls.
You crawl from the bank in awful little hymns.
I laugh so hard I cough blood into my teeth.
though we only loved each other
You had warrants out for your arrest
to rot fruit from ten paces.
You smell like opened graves in summertime.
Your maggots pour into my collarbone
through the softening skin.
I spread my ribs like cathedral doors.
My body peels apart beneath your mouth
blackened like old ink soaked through paper.
Even while hiding the poker chips
Even while clearing the table,
like you wanted to break into my lungs
Because this is intimacy, isn’t it?
To be consumed so completely
nothing survives untouched.
so your children do the work for you.
They crawl beneath my skin
and turn me holy with appetite.
I can feel my face collapsing inward,
eyes leaking warm down my cheeks,
mouth filling with the taste of pennies
You kiss me with your ruined jaw
and part of you falls off into my lap.
I tuck it into my pocket like a love letter.
the river drags another piece of your spine downstream
“Take everything,” I whisper.
My voice comes apart wetly.
You open me like fruit left too long in summer,
and I hold your ruined face
while your countless little mouths
make a feast of my heart.
Anywayy!!.. uh... enjoy!!.. ^^"
I dont think i can even begin to express how much I love this poem and you for making this. It is the most wonderful honor to receive such an absolute masterpiece. One that was so beautifully written and breathtakingly imersive that in the 3 days since you have sent this to me, I have already read about 16 times.
I’m so sorry I kept this from the public for even a second because genuinely the second I finished reading it for the first 3 times I immediately set out to draw it to your description and answer with it. But then i realised that that would take to long to finish and i think this poem deserves to be its own stand alone post.
I sincerely love this poem so much. I have thought about its contents and how you chose to describe it in relation to Bendy’s character and his relationship with Cuphead so much. Here are just a few of the many lines that have been rotating in my mind for days:
“drunk enough to make the stars sway sideways” “The stars drip.” —> to me this means that the cuphead bendy sees is not real but a result of his intoxication. This implies so many things especially with the maggots that is just so spectacularly grotesque. And when he mentions the stars again it may be him coming out of his trance? Either way it provides context to the scene that allows him to question in the possible morning whether what he saw was real, as well as explaining why he is so calm and accepting of Cuphead returning as a corpse
“The cliff crooks over me like a broken jaw” holy fuck that is beautiful imagery, my jaw literally dropped the first time i read it like holy hell? It’s so disturbingly delicate and yet beautiful that fits in so perfectly with the Burton corpse bride universe. “Still chewing” —> like how the river is still destroying cupheads body, LIKE HOW BENDY IS STILL GETTING EATEN AWAY BY HIS GREIF?
The entire description of cupheads form, gods help me Bendy’s REACTION TO IT. I cannot quote all of it but I will possibly never get over how you wrote it to be so adoring, despite his disturbing decaying form bendy cannot help but be in awe of his love “Darling”, AUGH HOW MY HEART ACHES! THIS IS THAT GOOD SHIT!!!
It means so much to me that you included my offhand mention of Romeo and Juliet for my cb!bendystraw idea, and communicated it so elegantly and poetically that its the pinnacle of ART.
“Alive with death” holy oxymorons to end all oxymorons. Lord give me strength this is peak.
I am a sucker for when partners notice and adore the tiniest of idiosyncrasies like humming. Holy hell Bendy’s tragic recollection of such a tiny detail as him humming while gambling? And the thought of is cuphead wasn’t truly here he might have forgotten this trait that he loved so much? My heart? Pouring on your floor?
“God forgive me, I moan”. Fucking hell Bendy’s rang of reaction to seeing and remembering cuphead from the fluffiest of fluff to his regrettable lust is actually drowning me. I am so happy.
“Your teeth are gone now, so your children do the work for you.” That is such a sickeningly cool yet grotesque concept. I applaud your perfect wording for capturing not only Bendys emotions but also his understanding towards cupheads intentions. BUT THEN AGAIN, BENDY IS A DRUKEN GREIF RIDDEN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, HE COULD BE TOTALLY MISUNDERSTANDING MAGGOTS FROM CUPHEADS ROTTED CORPSE EATING AT HIM AS SOMHOW TIED TO CUPHEADS INACTION AS HE PROBABLY JERKS OFF TO THE SIGHT OF HIS CORPSE. Man this has so many layers its insane
“Eyes leaking down my cheeks” stupid fire way to realize hes crying
Tucking bits of cuphead into his pocket “like a love letter” INFESTS MY BRAIN WITH SO MANY MAGGOTS DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE CARNAGE YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME?
Shout out to all the religious words you used like “holy” “god” “cathedral”, it’s stupidly fitting for the setting and the tone with his guilt to feeling lust at this corpse. Good god.
Even though this response is long as fuck, i still do not think it is enough to express my gratitude and amazement at your writing and art. I haven’t even mentioned but the drawing you added, with the crooked smile and the non-responsive collapsed face of cuphead pulls at my heart strings so. Hopefully this response does not drown out your poem in this post
Thank you so much for writing and sharing this. It means so much to me your mind made this out of the small off-hand bits of comments on a possible cb!bendystraw. Like how cuphead died and how they had a two day Romeo and Juliet romance.
This is peak. This is art.
