Jacklyn Henry

Addicted

i chase my addiction
in the dark cool embrace
of midnight,
hidden deep within shadows,
behind doors locked with
libidinous keys.

there is no need for commerce,
no exchange of crumpled bills,
no crushing of rocks,
no back-alley shenanigans,
no needles nor spoons,
or lines of sweet transgression,
no fear of vagrancy
or the stamping flat foot of the LAPD.

there in darkness, bathed in flickering light,
i watch others in transcendence,
in desperation, in the clutch of chemical ecstasy;
writhing and mewing with false pleasure,
deep in a dance of denial, thrusting and fucking,
tearing at flesh.

faster, faster,
yes! yes! just like that!

just
like
that

and a blink of a sorrowful eye
i am one with them, i am a
part of them, captured and chained
and tied for gossamer thread,
a participant from afar,
static and solitary,

i am a part of scene, my degradation palatable,
my shame and misery complete,
blood rising and rushing, an addict in the arboretum,
my skin crackles with fire.

i am burning.
burning, burning.
i am
burning.

eyes dilate,
heart beats fast to a strange kind of music
and
soon

i collapse,

only to feel the hunger rise
once more
from the base of my cock
into
the pit of my soul.