Test Poem by Melissa Joy Chesky

Test, test, test… one… two…
Check check
Graveled laugh
Smokey gestures
Sit and fester
In my mind
Swollen lips
Across the tips
Caress barely felt
Pain evenly dealt
To every nerve
Along every curve
It feels horribly superb
To remember every verb
Every syllable, every clause,
Riddled by every labored pause.
Every nicety
Is jaded and icy.
Those Japanese violins
Give me concentric downward spins.
Your unique taste
Floods my nose and face,
Wafting a sweet nausea unexplained.
Feelings feigned.
Pain uncontained.
But, I try to refrain from the disdain
Your presence brings me.
Until my mind's levees break free…
These memories will never leave me be.