please don’t touch me
I’ll explode your
fingertip will spark
a sudden flash
that leaves a smoking heap of ash
the smouldering ruins of me

leave me to
this savage beauty of my madness, my despair
please don’t touch me there
fissures yawning wider
just underneath my hair
revealing cold debris of days
of rough nights on the couch
please don’t touch

else I’ll be frantic for the light
my resurrection
in the small bleak hours to scrub
away the stink of
You
don’t
touch