Part One: Scale not to size Something had happened She couldn’t find control Her tail feathers plucked The blood was running cold The man whom she loved Was out the door; he left She failed to phantom why But she made an attempt She wanted to remember Every small detail Another night in Vegas Putting memories to scale She thought times seemed charming Colors beamed in blinding lights Cowboy boots on the bar Tensions brewing out of sight At the end of the game They were stepping outside When it all went south Hit like a landslide Mood swings that change In the breeze like a feather Her energy had shifted From one to another The act was unconscious Not thought through at all Maybe not calculated That imminent brawl A cigarette burn So close to his eye Hands on the pavement Pulling at his necktie She threw herself at him He thought it’d only be once But that became sixth Of those miserable stunts He sat there again While she was crying in the streets Embarrassment or shame? Regret underneath the sheets Fast forward, back home Sand blowing, loss of face Bewildered by events His world a dingy gray She appeared to be so benign The way she talked gave him awe Wound up in her love Enthralled by the thrall Thought that the end had arrived She was waiting for the trigger Anything he had to say She’d blow it even bigger Something brewing in this girl She was off the wall, insane No iris, just pupil Was it all the cocaine? She took a step in the darkness Something must have taken hold Or maybe this was her soul Damned to earthly patrols Detecting indifference To fight back the demons Her friends told her no But she's there at the deep end “You’re the one hurting him.” Is that what they said? Her imagination running Made her way inside his head She was back on the porch Becoming impatient Not as happy as she was As just another inpatient That padded room girl With pens in her pockets Dare to write him back? Cases pending on the docket Conceiving a plan Looked into the distance Closing her eyes Her body had the persistence Rocking chair to the floor Sprinting towards the upper story A stop in the kitchen Instincts gone predatory He knew something was wrong The windowsill, wearing thin She had the devil on her side She sold the light within Pounding with fury He was on to the roof Stumbling back, Her violence, living proof But tripping down the stairs She felt every tread Like falling out the car Her blade, flying overhead He slid down a pipe Her emotions were a flare Why did she have a knife? This wasn’t an affair! He was loyal to her She couldn’t see the bigger picture Deep in her actions She needed something to quench her Visceral states like that Were too common No medication worked She asserted her dominance Dialing the phone He said, his life matters more Glossing over his fears In their passionate wars Waking up from her stupor She heard the world around her Ambulance sirens The mouse would soon defer It hurt to drag her ankle Whimpering in pain Broken by her sins She submitted, now lame Crying little girl As the police arrive Trying to remember Scale not to size Part Two: Two frames deeper Handcuffed to a bed He stopped in to see His wife at the bottom Of her raging seas He came to forgive her Is that what he needs? A loving goodbye But he couldn’t leave She pleaded with him Her eyes rolled back He prayed at her side His fallen angel hijacked The terrors weren’t over All these chances work, right? Stroking her hair Ignoring hindsight No charges were filed Two-year hospital stay She sat writing poetry He’d visit every day The rings never moved You couldn’t call this love A morbid obsession Not to be disposed of He believed in his nightmares Remembered every bit Couldn’t pull himself away He found himself to admit Her love was flowers When you knew they were dead His life matters more Isn’t that what he said? Lying to himself, Vegas was a blip So was Denver, LA, Every fucking trip! Outside the hospital Time to take her home The love of his life Her hands, cold as stone He loved her through good Through healthy and sick She loved him till death Till broken and stiff They both think together, No one else can have you Doomed by themselves This something wasn’t ending soon It will be questioned why he stayed, Questioned whether she was blind It will be questioned why they burn To keep this something, they’ve enshrined Virgin Mary, save them! He was worshipping her cow! Vegas nights, beaming lights He dared not pray aloud From the start, she hadn’t always Made hell in her wake Couldn’t chase out the mouse Parents dead in the lake Her family had succumbed To a psychosis of kind Her fate, set to drown But a bump was divine Falling out of the trunk Had saved her young life But the world before that Was nothing but strife Crying little girl Cut marks deep in her skin Bursting into flames The shrapnel, cutting in An abuser’s success A child never wanted Bipolar till the end Now holding lovers hostage But her teeth, sparkling white And eyes, azure blue She took his breath away To him, she was the muse A muse that attacked When the imp came to play Another night locked outside That something outweighed But there they were Another hotel Trapped on repeat Becoming lost in the swells Summer heat that burned Nonetheless, Monterey Thin hair in the breeze His gorgeous wife on the bay But that wasn’t the case Back up in their room Scratched on his back Three lines marked their doom So dismal to think It had all come to this The woman he chased Stood as a monolith Why did he run? She was standing right there! She had been there for ages The sign said “BEWARE” When she fell over top of him, Smashed was his soul But until that happened Her words dripped like gold A poetic titan She knew every word To coerce and manipulate Controlled his whole world A pretty mouth lashing Whipped by her tongue Bitter cinnamon sentences The fiend was among He fell for it all Gaslighting, guilt-tripping Dragged her to the chapel Believed the blame-shifting Black eyes weren’t the issue Maybe the broken glass At the bottom of the stairs Or bones that crunched and cracked He always took the fire He would never fight back Her petite, fragile frame Could never take that He folds his hands over hers Pinning down both arms Blood from her bite He’s hearing air raid alarms 3 AM, back to Vegas In the trunk, hands tied He wanted her to remember What they had and why Reminding her of their something She’s screaming through the gag He was crying, apologizing Pitiful punching bag But she woke up the next day Not a complaint to be had Flamingos in the pool This something ironclad Her smile so lovely She was glitter in the light Vibrant red shimmers Quietly, they’d ignite This was what he knew worked Adrenaline for two It was successful yet again Something he was onto… He convinced himself Her breakdowns meant something He was looking for the message What came of this? Nothing Nothing to pinpoint Nothing to scale Two frames deeper No further details At the end of the week It was back to Sedona She looked out the window Yet now something owned her The mouse had crept in Snorting from the bathroom Then grocery stores, laundromats Every strand on the loom The white lines became present A problem from the past Snuck up on her quickly What Vegas had amassed So he followed the mouse Everywhere it went All around the house Feet heavy like cement Every day, she shone brighter Time came to view faster Always in the spotlight Such a glorious disaster But then came the day He caught the damned pest Looked down at the bag The fellow repossessed She begged for it then Crystal tears in her eyes Her love for this powder Head turning clockwise He wanted to help So he bought her some more Maybe it wouldn’t Be like from before So happy in her high But her waves crashed harder Did he forget about that part? Accepted fate as some martyr Brought down to his knees Her knees in his stomach Oh, good Lord above! She had to be dealt with Part Three: Shutter It was all going poorly And then it struck as worse Velvet bloodshed He just needed a verse Her poems were crumpled Wastebasket near the door He’s diving into trash To remember times before But before was a lie So quiet went the mouse Closing the shutter Couldn’t tell in from out The moment it changed Was in the blink of an eye She didn’t suspect it Hadn’t let her flames die Then it had happened That something because That was the end Of something that was Crying little girl That she was inside But her soul had expired With no place to hide Not when he loaded A shotgun in his hands Aimed at her then Carefully thought-out plans She begged him to stop “I’m not manic right now!” Her oceans were still But that unholy sound Pierced through the night July was no more There was something he scribbled On the inside of the door He told a sad story About the woman he loved Every breath of hers Was his ultimate drug But he had a secret Squeak, squeak, went the mouse Sniffed for understanding A sacrifice for his spouse His secret would be found In her shallow pool of blood Addiction found him, too Bursting through him like a flood His life matters more, Isn’t that what he said? Was he going to confession? A prayer before bed? That mind-numbing substance Let out his true demons He had the devil on his side And God couldn’t free him He thought to himself, No one else can have you True to his words Tightening the corkscrew What did this drug have That he simply didn’t? She wanted its love He thought things would be different Caught up in an obsession He couldn’t see the bigger picture So many times, he thought He could just end her Was that all she needed To be finally at peace? Was that what he brought her? Gave her eternity He knew he couldn’t join her He damned himself to hell However, he forgave the sins Graced her with farewell Delusion in the raw He had to save her soul She was the nightmare he replayed Disregarding its harsh toll Vegas nights, beaming lights When everything was bliss A slap across the face Hitting him felt like a kiss The ewe, he believed Glimmering blue eyes The memory of them Is nothing in its demise Something had happened They couldn’t find control Doomed to never fly Her blood ran cold r.g.