this is a ransom note for my body.

this is a ransom note for my body--
if you ever want to crawl beneath
the sheets of your own skin again
you'll listen to me carefully--
don't worry-- i won't hurt her
in a way you could see 
if you passed her while she sat on
a park bench-- writing her name
in sharpie on the wood--
you can try to take her back one word at
a time-- peeling apart rib by
rib in the commas of your
prose-- your teeth fall out 
of your skull to finish sentences
when you run out of freckles to use for
periods-- i'm asking
you to meet me somewhere remote--
she'll pack a suite case to the
moon-- full of stuffed animals &
baggies of goldfish crackers--
we'll camp out in the tent 
your uncle used to set up in the backyard
where the old red chicken coop
used to sit beneath the evergreen
tree-- we'll be far enough away--
this is not just a transaction--
i'm not the kind of kidnapper who
treats his victims like
poker chips-- i like to hold them--
spoon them in the murky quiet of
summer-- open the window & kiss
the hairs on the back of their neck--
you see i don't really give bodies back--
they have the nasty habit of
coming back & back again-- they like
it here-- they like to be opened up
from the rib cage like a clam--
i crawl inside-- make more space
for myself than her
--she feeds me fist fulls of
rotted apple cores-- a potato roll with
peanut butter & thinly sliced banana like your 
mother used to make-- 
i pull sleep from her hair like
a soft spiderweb spindle-- oh & you
you have always looked so much 
like your own blue suite case--
packed & sitting by your bedroom 
door-- take her for a walk & bring
her back to me-- there is no
such thing as a ransom with me--
there's nothing either of
you have left to give me--
other than your own mouths--
i'll kiss you quiet--
come now, let's not be silly--
there is a tent in the back yard
where there once was a chicken coup--
the night is wailing like
a basket full of crickets
& she's falling asleep here with me--
feed me freckles--
pick up your teeth & put them back into
your skull.