The demon bellowed out a laugh
“You think I want your prayers?”
He cackled as dust rained
Down from the cavern top
She flinched away in fear

“Do you see this throne?”
He asked, “Do you see it?
Do you know what it’s made of?
Little girl do you know?
It’s made from the bones.”

“The bones of who?”
She asked, weak and scared
“The bones of the men
Who would make me their god.”
He scoffed, “I do not need your prayers.”

“You’ve misunderstood.”
His laughter boomed,
“Then enlighten me mortal.”
She bowed again, a picture of grace
“You’ve misunderstood.”

“It is not to you that I wish to pray,
But for you.”

You can hear the stars
If you just listen closely
And they say that they

Are lonely like you
Floating, lost in the darkness
Of the soft abyss

It’s the fact that you know
And it changed nothing

It’s the fact that your eyes
Will hold mine for just too long

It’s the fact that I am so in love
And all we will ever be is friends

It’s the fact that you see me for the fraud I am
And know that the apathy is only pretense

It’s the fact that I am alone
And I see you in togetherness

And I am alone

My body is a temple
And it’s made of glass,
Adorned by that by
Which it was made

In my soul I feel
Bones
Scattered in the dust-
Stricken-
In the sun

For when I saw her
My heart fell open

For she did more than sing
With her words she made love

For with the notes
Her heart did spill

For when I saw her
I fell in love

I burn alone
A star loose in the cosmos
Lost, and alone
But at least I am free

I burn bright
My light shines trough
The black holes
But it is a futile light

I burn silent
My cries are unheard
Every sizzle and snap
But I listen to the others

I burn alone
My cries go unheard
Lost and lonely
But my futile light is unseen

A pointless star
Too far out to have any purpose
Alone in the cosmos
But to know the pain of others, I am useless

The sunlight burns me
He’s too warm
He’s too bright
My skin can’t take his heat
My eyes can’t take his shine
But I still need him to survive
For if he should perish
Then I should follow
The universe would collapse and time would stand still

My body is a temple
Though not yet old—
It crumbles still
It’s missing stones
And the alter’s cracked
It’s survived wars
You see
And terror
It harbors untold evils—
Spirits of those lost
But not quite forgotten

My body is a temple
Built by sinners’ hands
On my alter lies
The gifts of sinful men—
Those who have worshipped here
Some who would worship still
Cast out, by the god
Who still awaits a priest

My body is a temple,
Yes, but I am the god
To which it is devoted
I have given refuge
To many a broken wanderer
They have rested, fed
And been sent on their way
But they have not all
Been so kind
They have taken stones
From their mortar
Glass from its panes
Flowers from their vases
Light from its sconces

My body is a temple
Deep within this forest
Wrapped in vines
And shrouded in shadow
Blooming with flowers
And blazing with light
So I ask before you kneel
Do you worship here in vain?
For far have you traveled
Do you wish to stay?
For every god
Needs a priest

My body is a temple,
That much may be true
But it is not just any temple
It is mine

What if every person
Titled each poem
With the line it contained
That they found to be the most
Meaningful?

Sometimes I hold my face
The way you used to
Simply because I miss it

Sometimes I touch my knee
The way you used to
simply because I being worth holding

Sometimes I run my fingers over my lips
The way you used to
Simply because I miss yours

Sometimes I hold myself
The way you used to
Simply because I miss human contact

Sometimes I give others love
The way I used to you
Simply because I need to be felt in this world

I think
That in another universe
We fell in love
With each other first
And it all worked out
To me
That is nothing
If not a small comfort

This side of my skin
Is for me
It’s for you
I don’t let just anyone see
It’s for your smile
And your blue eyes
And your sweet laugh
It’s for your gentle hands
For your tender touch,
This side of my skin

There’s a three way war
Waging in my head
My mind, heart, and body
Throwing gauntlets
And clashing swords
Quietly screaming
And ripping my soul apart
My mind wants one
My heart another
My body wants the third
My friend called me lucky,
That I’m able to love so much
I call it a curse,
To hurt so many people.

To the time a man thought he needed to mansplain my own poem to me

I look in the mirror and understand
I will never be worth your precious time

I am tired of this
I am tired of you
I am tired of him
I am tired of her
I am tired of that
I am tired of them
I am tired of people who pretend
I am tired of life
I am tired of deaths
I am tired of black
I am tired of white
I am tired of being awake
I am tired of sleeping
I am tired of dreams
I am tired of nightmares
I am tired of not sleeping
I am tired of having too much else to think about
Most importantly:
I am tired

Here’s to the love poems
That are all about you
That I will never write

A girl dressed in glittering black
With chandelier earrings
Hair done up with pearls
Eyes sparkling with freshly shed tears
Cheeks flushed with sadness
At the top of the stairs-
Waiting-
Like the silence before a song-
The calm before the storm-
Shining
And beautiful
Like a Shakespearean play-
Tragically beautiful

Oh the irony
That all tragedies are love stories

To be comfortable with someone,
Even when all you have is their words
That is Love
To enjoy the stolen kisses when everyone’s around and no one sees
Much more than the private ones
That is Love
To prefer being held, and holding
Over touching or being touched
That is Love
To know them by the sound
Of their heartbeat
That is Love

Love is nothing more
Than giving someone a gun
Pointed straight at your heart
And trusting that they won’t pull the trigger

And when they do
The only person you can be angry at
Is yourself
Because you gave it to them

Just as the dove
And the crow
Cannot lie together
The same bird
Of a different feather

Just as the mantis
Cannot stay
With his tender mate
The same creature
Of a different fate

To love
Is an honor

To be loved
Is an envy

I once loved someone
Who never really loved me back
So I decided I would make this person
Who I wanted them to be
So I made them hungry until they shook
I laid them on the floor and made them
Sit up sit up sit up sit up
Until it hurt to stand
I rolled them over, made them go
Up and down up and down up and down
Until it felt like their muscles would bleed
I stood them in the shower
And let the water strip them of their skin
And then
I looked in the mirror
At this person I once loved
And I was still not satisfied

There are so many people inside me that some days I don’t know who I am

Their voices are so loud I don’t know which is mine

I have lived a thousand lives

I have walked a thousand miles

I have loved and laughed and cried

I have been full

And empty

And on my worst days, both together

I am a jumble

I am incoherent and confused

I am alone

And I am unsound

Something burned between them
Like an un-ignited spark
The shadow of a flame
That was never lit

Three white doves cannot fit in a nest
    But if the extra cannot find a mate
Then where should it fly at springtime’s end?
That lonely little dove, caught between two worlds
   The little dove left alone to mourn what it could not have
      Mourning it’s lost love in a lonely, empty little nest
         Perched precarious and pretty on a windowsill
            Little grey dove, mourning the morning

She wasn’t an “easy” woman
But she had an easy heart
And people saw her kindness as weakness
Her meekness as pathetic
She fell in love with every man she met
And
         one
                by one
                          they
                                 Broke
                                            Her
           ­                                         Heart.

He was beauty, inside and out
He was the silver lining in a world of blackness
He was my light
And now I’m in the dark

How is it
That I’m so sad
For losing something
That I never had

How is it
I’m so in love
Heart broken for one
I never even knew

I gave my virginity to a stranger
And when it was over
I told myself this was the best day
Of my entire life
I’d become a woman
I’d make my own decisions
But as I sit here alone,
Drinking too-bitter coffee
I watch gentle held hands
I think of setting myself on fire
Maybe then I’d feel clean
And be rid of this sin

Even when life
isn’t worth living,
The Earth Mother
keeps on giving

Even when there’s
nothing left worth stealing
To Father Time
we keep appealing

Even when we have
worked ourselves to bleeding
Brother Fire
we keep on feeding