Haunted letters

I write so that I may live;
live beyond the smothering cocoon
of bandaged heartbreak;
live beyond just pouring caramel
on this rotten apple of a heart.

But layer by layer,
they mummified me:
these letters of longing
became an evening gown;
feeding my naked ribcage
with scribbled skin.

I can feel them, sinking,
s l o w l y,

like a metaphor

until each line
loses its delicacy,
until all my 'I love you's
become a funeral shroud
draping my spine.

But there's a syllable of hope

trying to climb up from my throat,
putting pegs through my skin
just to survive.

So I cough.

I cough up blood.

I cough up the rot and residue
of my past, I cough up
the sickening sweetness
of self-destruction.

Until, finally,
I cough up the word

'no'.

I peel the sheets off my skin
and wear the wax of a warrior.

I peel the sheets off my skin
and feed the ghosts to my laundry.

14/02/2020
11:20 pm

Thank you MaryAnne for the prompts:
- Write a poem that includes the words "spine", "rib cage", "blood", "throat", "delicacy" and "caramel".
- Your love poems and love letters from the past and present come alive, taking a frightening physical form. They will not leave you alone; how do you quell these monsters?