one.
introduction

i.
the instant you met him
you smiled; he is fire-catching brilliant
just like the iron loops that catch a shaft of sunlight
and splinter it, momentarily, into a supernova starburst:
the iron loops on the wall
of the stiflingly glinting room beneath his house.
a room you never thought could have existed,
every inch of it
a homage to the terrible collector:
and you;
you are the one he needs to complete
his beautiful set.

ii.
the very instant he met you
the very moment of your introduction,
he thought:
   “your green eyes,
    they tell a story, all on their own.
    shall i take them out,
    and let them speak, freely
    without the constraint
    of your skull?
    it would be painless-
    mostly.”
and to him you said yes,
the instant you fell for his colourless eyes,
all doubts
vanishing into hot oblivion:
enchanted.
but there is no magic in this world,
no matter how much you will wish there is
before the end.

iii.
  “i will take you
   and all your hopes and dreams and passions
   and with my heartbeat-thin blade
   i will dissect them all
   surgically;
   obsessively;
   oh
   how beautiful
   the bloodstained floor.”
drunk
with edgy laughter and
the wish of love,
you do not register his needle-words.
their thorn-edges fall upon the fragile armour you made:
which is denial,
an ash rose in a flamescoured garden:
one delicate touch of white butterfly wings
and it falls, so much dust
on the deepening breeze from the sea.