the paring knife

Pervasive emptiness carves 

At my chest with a 

Paring knife

Slice by slice 

Never the same place twice 

Layer by layer it reduces

The sinew and flesh 

Into discards, ruins 

Flesh and bone impermanent 

Mine at its own detriment 

Coils like a spring and 

Bounces back toward the thing 

It aches to forget 

Paring knife in the chest 

Again and again 

Until it's peeled away

All that remains 

And it rains like confetti 

In celebration of a new

Beginning, ending with a 

Mess on the ground 

All that is lost 

Can never be found