Polecat

You have a childlike innocence, he told me
and I wanted it to be true despite the car-
wreck smile on my face I rummaged for
dialectical behavior therapy worksheets:

Hold on to the car that is running over you,
deconstruct the tread marks on your face,
cling to the grill and sizzle, scrape your self
purposefully across the windshield, and breathe.

Follow your breath into the air-conditioning
he's yet to turn off, your pungentdeathodor will fill his nostrils
and he will know what he has done. You don't have
to say anything. Let him crack his window and begone.

Thank you, I replied.