Because the Bullet

            -After Ross Gay

whistles just as the kettle
but waking the morning after

being shot in the back is hard
when the wound’s still asleep.

Because later is a slow dance
made to mimic the undead

and raising a casket is strength
no lover’s tongue can handle.

Because the phoenix is myth,
but the sword swallower is real

and coughing up ash
proves more fire than rising from it.

Because the heart was not made to burn
but does it so well,

the lips not made to lie,
yet purse into pillows so perfectly.

Because the fireproof
know no birth in being set ablaze

and the flammable forget
too often to discard stubborn cinder.

Because love is a bullet
hole in entrance and exit

except when it sticks
silent as a slug beneath stone.

--JACOB VICTORINE