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atopic dermatitis

just like the trees that erupt
in long summers like these

the bark tightening to split
into a nimbus of shards

disassembling the forest’s quiet joy
i have found my body unwinding

like ticker-tape over basins
& bathroom floors the blood

rising like resin to the surface
of the skin tacky & sweet

like a spoiled peach my knuckles
slick when i wake having pulled

apart my eyelid in sleep my nails
at my arms like a man on fire

trying to stifle the flames
as if you can dig your way clear

through to the other side
how every morning i give over

my warmth in smudged petals
on the sheets i’ve left a galaxy

of buckshot that you’ve learnt
to blink over with dye stripping

constellations that map the path
back to a childhood spent wrapped

in swathes of sodden gauze to stop
the creases of my arms yawning

open like the hungered mouths
of baby birds for thirty years

i have been open-mouthed
at the mechanics of this body

the hearts’ winged flutter & its proof
spilling over my fingertips

how all this time i have barely
been able to keep this life

within me within me

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