A Mirror Factual by Anna McEnulty

according to a recent article,

some people can rumble their ears.

this explains why i can hear thunderstorms

or street fights in my dreams

(not you, not you – the interlude of you – birds question the sky and these, this is the sound of you)

on the contrast, redheads bleed.

they haven’t stopped bleeding for two years.

it never stops. it never stops.

it is bleeding every day of my/their life.

it is their/my sorrow. when one woman bleeds,

tell me you cannot feel it.

(not you, not you – the interlude of you – what is red is ravenous and what birds scream is true)

it is trying to bleach the fingerprints that still live under the paint.

the things that haunt us are what we all ain’t.