“Aphelion & Aerial Bloodletting”

By Halley Kullen

“Aphelion”

The carbonic spools grab me by the wrist

what are they trying to show me in their conniving ebb

the same tincture as the helicopter

what is that light barreling through

is it God’s hand or the gun

holding us hostage

at least it isn’t a filature of azure

guaranteed to coalesce me faster

thrash her in cerulean celadon

genetics in a wordless lexicon

I don’t want to awaken to a clear shade of 

agean

unable to parch its parcel like them

I can’t even pierce its skin

so earthen

I am parallax to every glint

off in my own orbit

until the next demise shakes the tint.

“Aerial Bloodletting”

I once saw a helix in the sky

a rupture of plum trying to rile

crimson protruding from my ears

sirens searing like that twisted ribbon

red, white and blue beaming broken wire

you snagged a couple of my hairs just to save them

longing for a piece of me to remain

we couldn’t be together in this life

I was a piece of collateral damage you longed to maim

defenestrations of our lumber scatter the cirrus

like the auburn in the trees, too subtle for others to discern

burrowed under mildewed roots

that go on and on forever.