Truth and Dare

Where shadows pass
We cease.
As light won't touch you
The darkness will absorb us.

In this twisted game of silence
Where you pretend to love me
And I keep my hatred secret
So the crowds won't see the smoke
The fumes that rise from our inferno
Where you comfortably made our home.

Our bed on fire
Ashes to ashes
Of a love forgotten
Of friends now turned enemies
Where we smile at a distance
Weapons hidden, truth or dare.

A  blind stare down as we keep our eyes shut
Where prayers are murmured in hushed breaths
Where the challenge will undo us
As there are no winners left
No heroes here to spare.

We will rescind cowards not because of fear
But for pride, pity, and bystanders
Because we'll die at the dare, kill each other at truth.

Instead, we'll lie, kill each other slowly
With silence as our poison,
And die as star crossed lovers
Burying the truth as a dare.

-Noemi Garcia Rigsby

Butchers

Easy scars that fade
Faster than I can take the time to
Memorize their lines,
Or remember how the blood once spilled from them.

 But can you ever forget the face of your butcher?
Can you erase the hungry look in his eyes?
Murderous, craving, preying
Your mirror reflecting an easy meal.

Your feet still feel the fast grass beneath
As you pound the ground hard
Razors cutting on the way to escape
Praying above not to miss a step or be caught.

Laborious breathing,
You're still catching your breath
Accelerated beatings in your chest
Your ears still perked to every sound.

Sweat still spills from my brows
Against this wall where you gave up
The knife plunged on the other side
Where it came so close to ending me
Only to prove that I can survive.

I can let my scars fade into this thick skin
But I wont let my heart forget
Forget the way you kissed to bite me
To put your arm around me to choke me
To love me to betray me

I wont forget that you can want me
Just to watch me die slowly
To swallow me up wholly
And bury me underground.

But you won't silence me
Anymore.

-Noemi Garcia Rigsby