Oh, how we became
from the solace seeking dead of winter
when there was warmth in numbers and maybe comfort hid there too.
For you
I could burn down the densest of cities with the lingering you abandoned
inside me, there is a gift tied tight
holding never-ending
full bodied
memory
Nov 10, 2019
Nov 10, 2019 at 12:00 PM UTC
I’ve known you more
than the underside of your tongue
wet, reckless, and longing
I recite your anger with sure lips
before yours even part.
We memorized each other bare-fisted,
soaking palms
we don’t touch anymore.
The silence just bleeds
Staining the empty sofa
No longer our worn place of comfort.
We are asking for one another with greedy jaws
loosened with halfhearted declarations
and it is not enough.
Oct 22, 2019
Oct 22, 2019 at 9:47 PM UTC
You wonder how fairytales
could lead you so astray
you hurt yourself on the jagged softness
of bloodied knuckles against your cheek.
Turn the page on the brightest star
as it implodes unheard, without consequence
I built you up in my mind
far too close to heaven
wrapped tightly in the flammable
unpredictable.
We didn’t burn together.
Oct 19, 2019
Oct 19, 2019 at 6:44 PM UTC
The choir concludes the service
We are eyes closed, air drawn to hands raised.
They sing because they happy
back in church
With bodies
always with bodies
Someone is screaming, tongue defying hymn
And yes, how far away we are
I miss him too.
His voice always singing familiar
haunts trumpet blaring
Sunday mornings.
Dark eyes and skin, wide smile, no teeth.
Fearless at 5 singing gospels with no concept of holding tight to strength in the lyrics. My ancestors and their ancestors. Am I listening?
I lose myself in years. I am not
Singing anymore. These chords have twisted themselves into the back of songs, I am
Writing, not singing or speaking.
Cottonmouth. I am sitting staunch against pews, leaning into worn piano keys. Foundation stains, and eyes watching, chestnut brown like mine. G in the key that breaks into silence. I hear a hymn being hummed, bacon cooked and waiting.
Memory tells me it is time to open my mouth
I sing 'cause I’m free.
Jun 6, 2019
Jun 6, 2019 at 9:49 PM UTC
My speakers miss the slow cracking rasp of your voice
and I know I’m not supposed to talk about the tears
or what happens to our hearts once we break them ourselves.
It comes to be a question of belonging
there is a space within you
perfectly build for me to sink inside,
where I hear your voice wistfully say my name
a space that you’ve guarded not emptied.
Now we are the detriment,
in the question of belonging.
There is a space between the soft flesh of my chest,
beyond the cracking of my ribs.
Inside of me, there is a space built for you
sometimes I keep myself there too.
Feb 17, 2019
Feb 17, 2019 at 12:05 PM UTC
it was early on
I found your kindness laying between my thighs
your love was barren and no
I couldn’t fill
a sideways heart spilled out
contents burning every inch of
me
your intimacy touched
giving the pieces of myself I never
cared to part with
left me empty and you
overflowing.
Dec 21, 2018
Dec 21, 2018 at 7:39 PM UTC
Most days are filled with unearthing
The feeling of
I am enough.
And then there are days, never-ending
days, and days,
and days.
I am breathing and that is enough.
Nov 25, 2018
Nov 25, 2018 at 4:50 PM UTC
I never knew a heart could bend
so far without breaking.
You never knew love
without indiscriminate taking.
We are what myths
strive to be.
A lovers’ journey
dissolved to
valiant tragedy.
Oct 25, 2018
Oct 25, 2018 at 12:27 AM UTC
Bow your head and drown out the voices.
This is the word. I say to you and your lips alone.
“Kerosene never smelled so appealing as it did that day
we loved under the mask of fumes.”
Dizzy and lost. Our eyes shut to the heat of firestorms.
Between us, we were burning.
Sep 29, 2018
Sep 29, 2018 at 4:11 PM UTC
They act as if survival has not been its own battle. I am living
with accusations
clawed into my flesh
by my own body.
Sep 27, 2018
Sep 27, 2018 at 9:59 PM UTC