Monster

She knew he had eyes like television static
Never the same, except that they imparted no message,
felt no sympathy,
and held her captive,
like red python eyes before a strike.

She imagined that his heart beat savagely against his ribcage,
as if it hoped to be set free.
His atrioventricular and sinoatrial nodes sparked out of time,
sparked so fiercely that the burning he felt in his belly
was real fire, eating away his cardiac tissue.

She imagined that when his heart gave out,
he would go on living – or whatever it was he did.

She imagined that he filed his teeth down
like a rodent
in order that he might maintain a semblance of humanity.

She imagined that fingernails and toenails grew
as if pulled from his flesh,
that underneath his gooseflesh he could,
at any moment,
sprout spines the length of his body.

And she imagined that
everything but the television static eyes
was just an illusion she made
to make herself feel better
when he didn’t want to be around anymore.