Phoenix Poem by Jean Renwick

We live on the edge and dare
ourselves with each new suicide poem.

Punch and hit and kick
And kiss
It’s another day off work.

You crave the beautiful fire in my eyes
And I love you
so much so much so I’m inside out.
Take away internal pain with external hurt
We’ll each return the favour.

Touch does not penetrate unless it’s hard and brutal
I tear at the barriers to getting underneath.
I need to share your skin

Bite and scratch and slap
And hug
Another day strung out in wantonness.

Like a sponge I suck you up
then hail back down onto you
and wait for the glorious sadness that comes.

There’s an absolute honesty in fierce physical love
By necessity an unspoken trust.
We’ve crushed and beaten each other
in more than every room of this house.

Such wreckage is our womb for re-birth.