Beyond Recall*
He clutches the limp form tight to his chest,
tentacle fist shoved in hard
anger against a mouth that longs to scream.
But he can't scream, what right does he have?
After all he's done. He's plucked
the star of Bikini Bottom from its sky
and rent the rest of the world in two
to match the twilight of his soul.
A sob emerges through the hate
(hating himself, hating the world)
and honks loud through the night.
How did it come to this?
He would play him a clarinet elegy,
only that shining beacon
deserves so much more
than a murderer can give.
How did he never know he loved him?
Behind all the veiled threats
and the pompous dismissal
was a man who could have spent his whole life
watching Spongebob Squarepants
making Crabby Patties
(for even the mundanity of that dead-end job
never quashed his infectious spirit).
He did it with such care, those hands
he'd wilted (unforgivable! His brain screams)
flying over the grill in genuine delight
selecting the bread, the patty
the condiments and lettuce, all
perfectly arranged to make the perfect product:
as delicious as running his tongue
over those yellow ridges and pores would be.
But he had never said a word
of what he wanted- to gently cuddle
his absorbent body, and so
so much more, too. He used to lie
awake at night, staring out his window
at a pineapple shaped house
and considering the possibilities
of all those pliant pores.
And so, of course, when he
came over (making peace,
the good neighbor asking
for a cup of sugar) and saw
long yellow limbs entwined,
convulsing with the pallid pink flesh
of a man (hardly a man)
he reviled, everything went red.
When the haze lifted and the camera obscura
dissolved and the world flipped right side up,
he saw the brunt of his crime.
That overrated imbecilic starfish
eviscerated, and Spongebob, his Spongebob
decapitated (he had never known himself capable
of such raw violence). He had knocked
his own world over, like a vase on a shelf.
Looking down at fading eyes
shaded by those too-long lashes
he contemplates the knife in his kitchen
and the location of a squid's heart.
*I'm sorry about the dividers- the uploady thing is completely refusing to believe any linebreaks, no matter how many times I put them in.