You move to unzip the back of my dress-

(the white one probably, tight and very couture

which might be irrelevant,

but adds to the overture)

-but keep pulling the metal tab

down the gray train tracks 

despite my protests.

 

What possesses you in this moment, 

I cannot know,

probably what posesses all of us 

in such moments: Curiosity

caught you in the undertow.

 

Down my shoulder blades, 

along my spine,

from my neck to my ankles, 

You unbind Me

 

And in the moment 

before my skin falls away

crumpled at your feet...

What do you have to say

for yourself?

What did you expect 

to find under my

flesh?

 

A network of veins perhaps,

that always teased you 

just under my epidermis?

 

Muscles, like bright red bunches

of fruit rollups,

sticky in the sun?

 

A rapidly pulsing heart.

Shiny and

unprepared for exposure?

 

Shying away from light,

too real to really be real.

 

& finally,

Unbleached bone.

Holding it all together,

in perfect composition.

 

Regardless of what you expected,

the joke is clearly on you

as 10,000 balled up plastic bags

tumble and bloom

out of my newly loosened skin.

 

The secret I had been hoarding,

not hiding:

They hit you in the face as they fall,

with soft "Pap" "Pap"s

So light they have to be 

pre- California bag ban.

 

How long have I been like this?

Like a scarecrow stuffed with straw?

A long time, buster.

A real long time.

 

I imagine you look around, 

Confused,

You straighten up and look down.

Only flimsy, plastic bags

remain of me now.

 

I was just trying to have a nice night,

Did you really have to know what was inside?