Shades of turquoise fill glassy eyes
Stiff like a mannequin
Emotionally paralyzed
The lights are on
And someone’s home
An infantilized mind
Cased in flesh and bone
Punishment for grief
A cure for anxiety
A husband’s order
For a female lobotomy
Jul 18, 2024
Jul 18, 2024 at 9:07 PM UTC
It was your birthday
I brought you lunch
And I didn’t mind playing the role of
The good daughter
As long as you pretended to forget
We ate under a veil of normalcy
Only commenting on the crispness
Of the deli’s pickles
I surrendered my pain
For your turkey club sandwich
You surrendered yours
So that I could watch you eat
Jun 14, 2023
Jun 14, 2023 at 2:38 PM UTC
I’m rotting out of my skin
And I’m repulsed
By the feeling
Of each breath
I steal
From this
Cold dead world
One day I hope
I can watch
It all burn down
Only then
Will I know
God’s warmth
Jul 23, 2022
Jul 23, 2022 at 12:46 AM UTC
I watched you pick flowers
From our garden of Eden
And when I asked you
To plant new trees
You told me that
No matter how many
Seeds enter the soil
Our garden would
Only sprout weeds
And yet I begged you
To never leave
And when I asked you why
You had tasted the fruit
That was forbidden
For us to eat
You told me that
The fruits of our labor
Had now grown rotten
And that you
Preferred a love
That was sweet
Feb 1, 2022
Feb 1, 2022 at 7:38 PM UTC
I spent years trying to pick up
The pieces of a puzzle
That would never feel complete
And when I got close
To her completion
Death was there
To congratulate me
And after her passing
People continued to feel
Like problems and projects
Never getting too close
But somehow loving so much
Only to discard them
Like broken objects
And with you I found solace
In the illusion of completeness
Maybe I wouldn’t need to
Try so hard to bring happiness
To a man with little grievances
But much like my past
I found myself splitting
Apart at the seams
In order to love someone
Who needed me to put together
All of their broken dreams
Jan 13, 2022
Jan 13, 2022 at 11:38 PM UTC
You are the sunshine
That pours into my car
In mid July
I have always savored
Your feverish embrace
That swaddles my
Anemic bones
And while I sometimes
Catch myself getting burned
By my steering wheel
I would rather kiss
The hot asphalt
Than return to someone
Who feels like January rain
Oct 27, 2021
Oct 27, 2021 at 12:42 AM UTC
You’re a cup of black coffee
Bringer of comfort, reminder of home
But like my teeth, you have stained me
Beyond human repair
And the love that you now show
Only deepens the memory
Of who I was
Before I was yellow
Jan 12, 2021
Jan 12, 2021 at 12:19 PM UTC
You are maple syrup
Unbearably sweet
And I like you on my tongue
But I know that you would
Surely rot my insides
If I indulged in you daily
Jan 11, 2021
Jan 11, 2021 at 10:35 PM UTC
In life I have found that
Whiskey sours and old fashioneds
Will always be my greatest vice
As well as my closest confidant
The glass hits my lips
And within the next ten minutes
I am no longer compelled
To pick my cuticles
I no longer feel the wrath
Of anxiety’s unseen brush burn
Or depression’s mighty choke hold
For once, I can breathe easy
Every fleeting thought of total apprehension
Is replaced by feelings of contentment and bliss
But soon, my eyes become glassy
While my body grows weary
And I descend into a deep slumber
Slowly sinking into the barstool
With my head on the counter
In a blue collar town
Jul 10, 2020
Jul 10, 2020 at 9:06 AM UTC
Some people carry sorrow
In such a way that it flattens
Their shoulder blades
It erodes the spinal cord
And devours the skin
Until there is but a memory
Of a person that remains
And yet somehow
We continue to feast
On the crumbs of grief
That fall onto the dinner plates
Of our most fragile memories
And still we sleep
In the crevices of
Our deepest insecurities
Only to be comforted
By a gentle reminder
That the end is
Growing nearer everyday
And we continue to play
The part of the aspiring optimist
Always grinning and laughing
While what's left of our insides
Curdle and churn
For even they are aware
Of the lie that sorrow makes
Jun 16, 2020
Jun 16, 2020 at 9:01 PM UTC