Another One Bites The Dust: Where Love Burns
Queen: Another One Bites The Dust
This piece is a spoken word poem written from the perspective of musical echolalia in real time… when emotion syncs with a song and starts to structure the way you think and feel.
The rhythm is there guiding the moment as it unfolds.
Not accidental… but something the brain recognizes as familiar and safe, like it’s already playing softly in the background, buried underneath the memory taking shape.
Another One Bites The Dust: Where Love Burns
it’s already happening
I can feel it in my chest
before a single word lands right
that tight
familiar
here we go
—
you say something
I hear something else
and I don’t check it
I don’t slow it
I don’t give you the benefit
I react
—
boom
you swing back
of course you do
we don’t do soft
when we’re like this
—
another one bites the dust
not us
not yet
not today
but something does
every time
—
we get mean
not strangers-on-the-internet mean
worse
the kind of mean
that knows exactly
where to go
because we’ve been trusted
with the map
—
and I hate that part
I hate
how easy it is
to hurt you
I hate
how easy it is
to choose it
—
and I feel it
right there
mid-sentence
this is wrong
this is not who I want to be
this is not who I am
and I keep going
—
because you are too
because we both care
too much
to stay quiet
and now we’re both
too far in
to pretend
we didn’t mean it
—
another one bites the dust
not us
just respect
just softness
just the version of love
we talk about
when we’re not like this
—
we don’t stop
we exhaust
we run it all the way out
like we’re trying to win something
that doesn’t exist
like we forgot
we’re on the same team
—
and then
nothing
—
just that silence
where everything we said
is still sitting there
alive
—
and this is the part
that breaks me
not the yelling
this
looking at you
and knowing
I just made you feel
something I would never
want you to feel
—
and knowing
you did it back
—
we don’t break
we burn
and sometimes
we burn each other
and then we have to stand there
in the smoke
of something we built
together
and figure out
how to breathe
again
—
I look at you
really look
past the fight
past the words
past the fire
and the realization becomes raw
harder than anything we said
—
I love you
and I just treated you
like nothing… like dust
—
that’s the part
that aches
—
another one bites the dust
not us
not today
just something inside us
that keeps breaking
before we can catch it
“Hey, are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?”
“Out of the doorway, the [insults] rip
To the sound of the beat”
—
and I know better
that’s the shame
I know the pattern
I know the rhythm
how fast it builds
how hard it hits
how it always sounds the same
right before it falls apart
the same beat
every time
—
boom
there it is
again
—
and now it’s quiet
just the aftermath
of another round
another hit
another thing we can’t take back
another piece of us
on the floor
—
another one bites the dust
I just sit in it
feel it
how close we get
every time
—
to something breaking
for real
—
we don’t fix it
we just stay
in the wreckage
breathing
—
and it changes
not all at once
not clean
just… less loud
—
the same space
different air
—
I can still feel it
where it landed
what it cost
—
but you’re still there
not across from me
not against me
just… there
—
close
like we always end up
whether we mean to or not
—
and it’s not fixed
nothing about this is fixed
—
but something familiar
starts to come back
through the wreckage
through the pride
still sitting in our throats
through the part of me
that wants to stay mad
—
something older than the fight
something stronger than the words
something more powerful than heat
—
I reach for you
just… instinct
like my body knows
before I do
we stand there
in what we did
in what we are
in all the ways
we still don’t get it right
—
and still
it’s you
—
still
it’s me
—
still
us
—
another one bites the dust
not us
and the fire’s still there
but different now
quieter
closer
—
the same heat
that burned
now pulling us back in
and I let it
—
not the fight
not the words
—
you
—
I let you pull me back in
even with all of this
still sitting between us
—
because it’s always been like that
hasn’t it
—
we don’t do anything halfway
not the damage
not the love
—
and I hate that
and I love that
at the same time
—
because even here
even like this
I know what this is
—
I know who you are to me
—
and I feel it
under everything
under the noise
under the heat
—
still there
still steady
—
not gone
not even close
—
another one bites the dust
not us
—
I’m still here
still yours
wide-eyed
with admiration
and pride
even when I don’t get it right
—
even when it looks like this
messy
vivacious
alive
Searching For Stars







