If You Peeled My Skin Off I’d Be Smiling

by Chelsey Flood

I haven’t been
dreaming recently
I tell you
I miss my dreams.
You look at
me,
shiny eyed.
Perhaps you need to move on with your
life?
Perhaps you’re standing still?
I press my lips
together
like I’m thinking it over
but what I’m thinking is
Fuck you.
You look
subdued
you tell me
and stroke me on the arm.
I turn away,
think
about the skeletons
underneath our skin
pouring vodka
into
mouths that never stop grinning.
Black hole eyes.
If you peeled my
skin off
I’d be smiling,
I say
and you laugh.
Later you tell me
about a girl
with an imaginary phone
who visited your
aquarium.
She talked to the England manager
while you showed
her
that an octopus is as clever as a dog.
Your eyes shine
as
you tell me
and I remember
You’re not so bad.
How could you
be?
You’ve got a bruise
from an octopus
on your wrist.
Before you go
your
skeleton holds onto mine
and you tell me
All I wanted was a
cuddle.
There are gaps
where our bones don’t meet
and it’s cold
but we’re both
grinning
and we don’t know how to stop.

5 Responses to “If You Peeled My Skin Off I’d Be Smiling”

Roddy

October 2nd, 2008 at 7:46 am

Interesting- very much centered on the dream world, and I love poems which talk vividly of dreams. Thank you, I enjoyed your poem. I really love the lines involving embracing ‘your skeleton’. That appeals a lot too. Altogether, there is so much communicated about the relationship in the poem that you could talk for days about it- I’m off to read it again.
Thanks verymuch!
Cheers, Roddy.
Chelsey Flood

October 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 am

Thanks Roddy, I’m really glad you liked it. I’m quite taken with the skeletons myself, I find I want to write about them all the time. If I ever finish a novel, those skeletons are gonna be in there as sure as eggs are eggs.
Sarah Hilary

October 6th, 2008 at 10:21 am

Terrific, Chelsey. Surreal yet very real in terms of the emotions it evokes. Great work.
Chelsey Flood

October 8th, 2008 at 9:27 pm

Thanks Sarah. The formatting’s all wrong though - where are the line breaks!?
Mark

November 10th, 2008 at 1:58 am

Great work, just came across this randomly and though i’m not sure yet i was wondering would you object to the title being used for an album title for my band? We’re not famous but i’d give you a credit plus a free copy.