a thigh of sky
and a black zipper
frayed

painted fingernails of faith
glacier blue
a rainbow of water

but there is not a frayed zipper
only a charcoal smudge
a reprint of thigh

and now
a canopy of darkness
the metallic shape of home

how can you not forget
the tornado turbulent passion
when he was whole

how was it his thirteen year old victim 
from the Internet 
he had selected

was the predator 
who selected 
him

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Michael H. Brownstein’s latest volumes of poetry, A Slipknot to Somewhere Else (2018) and How Do We Create Love? (2019), were published by Cholla Needles Press.

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