Mel and Colin -

Colin kept clean syringes

Fastened in his briefcase

Just in case he needed closure

They’d be close at hand

Mel made scrumptious banquets

Set the table just for two

Kept her strychnine in the kitchen

Sealed in vacuum-tight containers

Mel and colin lived precariously on edge from day to day

Mel and colin didn’t speak because their minds worked the same way

Mel and colin didn’t speak because they had nothing to say

Colin knotted ropes and cords

And hung them on his closet door

Stashing part of his collection

In the backseat of his car

Mel stole old prescriptions

From her sickly coworkers

Safe behind the bathroom mirror

Ready to cure everything

Colin’s cubicle was sparse

Words on his computer screen

On the phone his voice was plastic

Cyanide tucked in his palm

Mel scanned produce at the market

Trigger finger taut and trained

Scanning with her eyes in sockets

Shrunken from the wash cycle

Faced with each other they

Silently vowed they would

Both stick together through

Thickest and thin

Faced with the world they

Cradled each other one

Hand on a razor

Antifreeze a pin

Sometimes the knife cut

But it never went in