Tonight
after haunted days of painful painlessness
a siege of sirens comes
to serenade, seduce and succor…
to simplify…
to supply me with solace
as I drown
beneath waves of mutilation
(with apologies to Pixies).
My Aaron sings to me
his soothing tones
which are less like music;
more like verse…
strumming my ribcage
beneath salt water seas,
we swim naked for hours
through tears we’ve not shed.
The other Aaron,
the Aaron between us,
he haunts through
photograph, text and memory,
echoing across time and geography
to be one with us again.
There are naked hungry men
beneath those shadowed depths,
those sombre shades of green
lit by melancholy movie soundtracks.
The mermen dive for pleasure
and breathe truthfully through gilled
fantasy lies which excite and entice me
before dragging me down to my death.
In amber and glow,
through fogged glass of sunken ships
she is weeping her mermaid crocodile tears.
This is not truly Jamie;
this being is not my sister or my therapist.
The former doesn’t speak to me, even on land
and the latter will soon be lost to me –
just as I left her (unforgivably)
in the haste of my waking nightmare.
She will forgive me this unforgivable sin.
She is strong but she is wounded –
like me,
underwater –
like me,
and she will rise again –
like me.
Could this truly be her after all?
I smile and wave goodbye to her
but she can’t see me until Thursday.
Mermaid simulacrum smiles just the same…
but here my visions come to an end.
Written by Jason Wright
August 17, 2017
For Aaron Squared & Jamie Bloom
