our undoing
began with a snapshot of
a hallway, our youngest at 3
she awakens
  sinking
  trapped in the darkness between         doorways

Our voices repeat in corners
of the darkest moments
that tore us in
two(+two +two +two +two ∞)
a projection of our past lives –
puppets created
decades ago

A hallway that replaces
memories for
smoke, features for shadows 
one child
for a thousand parts  

the bedroom holds a bubbling sharpness that stabs at her ribs
a swarm of
faces shaped
as
  devil’s
crumpled clothes
and sheets that suffocate

(w)she wakes on repeat –
stuck
that impassable door holds her heavy,  
  a room that presses, cool against her skull
the warmth of water mixed
with
rot
a vortex of a thousand hands 
cotton towels, rough skin
the smell of foam letters 
drowning and
   decay

there is no safety in this home
no end to the
  distortion

for the last room
is empty
no assurances wait
at the end of the hall
a chorus of disappointment
an expanse of darkness
ghosts
void of feeling
held together by
netting and
  thread

for choice is an illusion 
made
by the mouths and hands and
faces
we don’t remember

So we become the hollow stares in bathrooms,
we forget how to breathe, to swallow
trapped in the darkness our 
  sharp pieces  
remain numb amongst the blankets creases 
   for the         shattering   
is a hollowing out,         a dissipating,        our silent folding
     a gift
for the Unclean