These Black Claws - VOLA, Shahmen

I’ve been approaching the surface for a year

I’ve seen emotions derail and disappear

Go feed the colorful snakes outside, she said to me

Go break your colorful bones in a fight, she begged of me

We are returning to the ominous

We are a lost cause

We are committing to the dominance

Of these black claws

I try to smile when I get bad news

Figure if there is any good left, I’ll get that too

The blood is red but the veins are blue

And my bones are every color on the spectrum between the two

I squeeze through the cells that we’ve been locked in

Kinda high from the loss of the oxygen

Headrush, flushed, dropping dead weight

My canine scrapes the last crumbs off my bread plate

Just head straight

No maps or no atlas

No matter how the road curves don’t end up backwards

Black birds circle brown dirt for the big worms

My bad dream catcher hangs high as it twist turns

Cities burn a bad smoke

It makes my eyes itch

But front row seats to apocalypse are priceless

Life is hanging here in these black claws

Staring at a white sky full of black stars