nail polish 

cracked & seeping on the kitchen floor,
the burgundy-- the near-blood tongue.

oh poltergeist have mercy on my nail polish,
the bottles flung from nightstands & shelves,

angry at me for becoming a boy-girl-thing.
the nail polishes gritting their teeth--

they snarl & shake. i try to soothe
them with sleep over stories of braided

fingers & blankets on floor. a purple
stain in my parent's bedroom, the bruise where we

spilled. it expands, throbbing & vein.
i dip my hand in the broken glass & paint,

make half-hand prints on the walls 
as more of them start to hurl themselves,

smashing, a jar full of some animal's tears,
an animal with no finger nails.

i want to pull them out like teeth, instead
i take a brush from the mixing puddles 

of polish, tint each tooth. become fang.
become neon blue & sixteen. 

i grin at the mirror, all wild & color.
collecting the brushes, i find them all,

picking off the glass, i sneak into bedrooms.
painting nails while people sleep, first 

my father & then my brothers. i choose carefully:
black & stop-sign red, brushing even their

door knobs as i exit. the whole world wakes up
with colorful nails, i laugh at home, safe 

as a bed could ever be. the polishes still bleeding 
out on the hard wood floor, a shard of glass 

in my foot, making nail polish of me, bleeding
auburn & green on the sheets. i don't take it 

out. i don't wash it off. come color,
make a fingernail of me.