Relapse

Aurora Fyre
Addiction
My first relapse

three years wasted
I recall now
steady lips for

“bleed yourself”
but I didn’t know
the blinding
light

That choice was
a treacherous step
sinking again

smoldering
drunk on resentment

with salt in my lungs
iron tight
impenetrable

Falling
was three weeks before

the warm sting of nostalgia
the euphoric burn of
jack and coke and

I could have sworn to
you, a north
star I didn’t see
coming

a mistake
or missed turn
or misdiagnosis

at rehab I was
given a ball of clay

I molded a mouth
behind castle walls
sharp teeth and forked tongue

I carried your name
Like rotten fruit.
Lodged in my throat
An incantation
I could never take back.

In Love
our first kiss

you tasted fresh
new beginnings
you told me

Love harder
wind in my sails
breathing
back to you.

a good one
To settle in infamy
I think back

so angry
so ocean

with lips sewed shut
I pushed you away
with my venom

Aurora Fyre is a proud trans woman, poet, and expressive arts therapist living in Oakland, CA. An expat from the poetry slam community, she is now showing up for the printed word after a career in spoken word that included four national poetry slams, two individual world poetry slams, and several years performing at slams, protests, high schools and universities. She now uses the power of the arts to support clients in healing from pain and trauma in the therapy room.