The Skeleton of You
written by: Gregory Tullock
If a skeleton crept out of your closet one night
bones gently clicking
as it tiptoed across hardwood floors
on fleshless phalanges
to stand over your bed and watch you slumber
with your tousled hair
and the smell of sleep on your breath
Would it find you beauteous and desirable?
Would it envy your rosy red cheeks
and the voluptuousness
of your tantalizingly exposed flesh?
Or would it recoil from your corpulence
and this obscenity
of meat and blood
obscuring the clarity of your brilliant bones,
suffocating
the pure white skeleton
of you?
Gregory Tullock is a mailman and poet residing in Asheville, North Carolina. His poems are primarily composed while walking, either on his daily mail route or on one of the many nearby beautiful mountain trails. Gregory’s writing often centers around themes of nature, simplicity, and spirituality. His poetry has been published in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Mayfly, Frogpond, Eucalypt Tanka Journal, Ribbons, Contemporary Haibun Online, The Young Buddhist Editorial, and other literary journals.
Latest posts by Gregory Tullock (see all)
- The Skeleton of You - October 30, 2025
