Speak.

Don't let self-doubt
contaminate your thoughts.

Don't let apprehension
block your airways.

Don't let fear
hold your throat in choke.

Don't let anxiety
sever your tongue.

Don't let anything
stop you from conjuring
words from your depths.

Speak!

And be heard.

over my waist stillness softens stares
much like in the thicket of an unkempt trail
he covers what he can and leaves
such a diligence departing death
before planting himself so deeply in my roots rupturing
various vines over walls to sway serenading
interior articulations hushing hollow hips
him sinking beneath my weight willingly
we intertwine beneath his ceiling fan
a canopy masking moonlight molding
our framework born beneath bedsheets
bashful in silence an appreciation arises amid
my dull heartbeat haunting how I turn
down the path where we wander
aimlessly away from my boundaries breaking
backbones for confirmation concealing inconspicuous
ivy inadvertently returning to shade solemn secrets
hidden beneath my kneecaps knowing knots
will return in the tree trunks towering
poison slobbering over your fingertip torrent
tracing rivulets from my hipbones hoping
home won't be too far down the river remade reminiscing
over my delicate bones beneath bellows
of his overpowering existence endlessly embedding
himself in a body that is made more
mine than anybody anticipates after
seeing me naked near noon
because staying still settles
a reckless act with a man
who clarifies character concluding
dismissal of his own
while i am patiently protesting parameters
to keep my heart safe so someone
doesn't come along to grieve grounds
gracefully forgiven for my mistaken mayhem
left behind by bare
hands and apprehensive apologies

I see you at work
I see you at church
I want to flirt
Yet I stay perched
When my only worth
Is to be hurt

I've been burned before
Yet I yearn for more
While the spurns are sore
In this hurtful war
I never learned to score
So I earned the door

I fantasize
About your feral eyes
That paralyze
My carol cries
As I stare and sigh
You gouge my eyes
With fingers that pry
Into my singular life
Bringing a plight
Of losing all sight

Our relationship is unlikely
Because I'm unsightly
Anxiety fights me
As I die rightly
Without you knighting
Me politely

I'm full of fear
And apprehension
I want to steer
Away from the tension
With an inner invention
Of a dour dimension
Fearing an election
Where I'm not the selection

You'll act like I have hep C
Or some form of leprosy
Meaning we won't be wrestling
So why put myself in jeopardy?

My heart will be constricting
Once you're done whipping
And my blood is dripping
So I bring a shield with me
So I'm never really living

I'm so scared
And unprepared
I approach your lair
The idea you don't care
Is too much to bear
So I decide not to share
The image of a pair
With you and I there

I feel *****
I feel guilty
It gets stormy
As I **** me
Loneliness is my home I guess
I know I'm an absolute mess
When the decision is no contest
Even with no context
You can see I'm a dog vexed
By the odd hex
Of your god flex
When you call next
So apprehension protects

With this ring I thee wed,
Never assumed those words would leave my lips
But they did.

Unsure of what the word vow actually meant or entailed.
All I knew for certain was that vows are fragile.
Broken and they can end worlds.

What comes next?
I do not know, with you by my side.
I do not need to know, or worry.

I just want a love like the ring I gave you.
Wrapped around you and shining,
Your body, heart and mind wrapped inside.