My lips have been chapped this week
and I fidget too much
My teeth couldn’t resist the peeling skin
the loose scabs
even as I felt the sting
of live skin coming off with the dead
Surrounded by conversation
but apart from it
lost in thought
I peeled a strip I shouldn't have
and opened floodgates
of gently gushing blood
from my glossed bottom lip
I bit down
to stifle the flow
feeling the stream collect between my lips
and drip onto my too-eager tongue
tasting scarlet metal
Practicing discretion
so as not to alert anyone to my injury
I puckered up
spreading it onto my lips
like a luxury gloss
just like that I’d applied earlier
meant to mimic
The imitation hadn’t gotten the texture quite right
failing to capture the stickiness
tacky as I part my lips
But the flavor wasn’t far off
though a little lighter
falsely fresher
floral in its sweetness
It was missing the subtle darkness
the biting iron
the thick fullness
and as I felt the stream wane
it was like coming down
from the greatest
secret high
It transferred onto my cup
speckling the waxed white cardstock
blending in beside near-identical
gloss splotches
but it stained deeper
stubborn to budge
not wiping away with a swipe of my tongue
like the remaining essence of life
was fighting
to live