have you watched flesh burn? heard the hiss of the singe
seen the skin redden on an already beet red body that
doesn’t even flinch                         real world season 27
robb schreiber is burning himself with cigarettes on
television             they leave dots on the back of his arms
& i spot them in every episode after till they almost fade
                yet the scene burned in my brain the words he
& brandon exchanged                 he did it because a blonde
was playing him didn’t love him & threw it in his face
                & i can’t look away
because he is letting himself be destroyed on
television, letting his demons eat him up
                & not understanding how much
untapped trauma he has just released from
            his body back onto the stage
            he & his castmates find themselves on
            the tiny island of horror
                        days later brandon relapses, a different
blonde tempted him back into his looming addiction
but i don’t think it was the blonde who sent him rock
                bottom
                                                   it was rob & his sad words
& match stick body & seeing his old self in the chaos of
a man who will not talk about his feelings
                                                                in some men & women
                                                                lies an untapped rage that
                                                               could send another spiraling or
                                                                                                                dead