Like Skin and Bones

To waste one’s words

Like skin and bones

Until the lips grow old and dry

With gums unflapped

The truths they speak

are stained by lying teeth

And the spit of crowds grown weary

At these caffeinated monologues

Flows upwards, fills the lungs with shame

Until they speak no more

And the cough that brings that last breath home

To keep it in its sacred place

Is only many coughs away

How many have I left?