Calloused hands are my calendar
Sweat reminds me I am organic
Knotted muscles are a trophy
Red eyes invite the comfort of rest

Spinning in a circle on one foot
Waiting for the room to orbit in a blur
Until I catch up with Western culture  
Checking boxes with blistered fingers

Sometimes
when we’re together
You get excited about seeing tomorrow
So I look into your eyes to see what you can
And a reflection appears
Where we’re laying there together
In the same place, on the same day
But we’re both home, just us, and a house
And then you bring me back to now
Taking my hand and holding your breath
And we melt into each other
As we whisper
Soon

Your tongue stained my lips for too long
They grew dry and cracked
Every time I smiled the skin split

I used different balms but nothing worked
Until I met the solution which I have yet to see
Underneath a blanket of worry‘s pseudonym

Living for each word
Breathing in the spaces between
interpreting the lamp shade's doleful expression

Not deciding whether this is waiting watching or doing
As the minute hand climbs and descends before the sun catches up
And patience melts into complacent

It is named after what it is
filled with water
looking for a life
just like the rest of us

It is durable
it has a way with air
in terms of breathing
unlike many I have known

It is reborn from fragments
rooting itself and adapting
until new soil becomes familiar
which seems impossible

but if a succulent can do it
why not?

The things that people can’t see
Lie within me
The fact that you can see me
Feels alarming

I know
It’s just one
Conversation but

I feel you’re in my head
But you’re far away
I hope this doesn’t sound off
But it’s charming

I know
It’s just one
Conversation

But the bubbles type stories
Of things that could be
And I wonder if you
Are talking to me

Oh I can’t erase
your name in my brain
It’s freaking me out
And it’s like you’re a stain
Oh I can’t explain
The things I feel
I hope that it’s real but I wish it was plain and simple

Hold my skin like a pebble from the creek
And feel its warm curves
And its etched ridges
And admire how it was worn down

I’ll stare up
Watching you memorize me
Waiting for you to see what I see
Until you let me look at you

If you skip me
You’ll know I’m not flat
And you’ll find me again this time tomorrow
And ill forgive you

If you drop me
I may crack and I may crumble
But a large piece of me will remain
Unscathed

If you keep me
And turn me thrice over for good luck
And carry me with you
I’ll teach you a lesson that you won’t soon forget  

But if you do skip me
And if you do drop me
And if you do keep me
You will still leave your imprint  

And I can promise you
I’ll keep it

Grind all the little things between your teeth
And wash it down with something sweet

Let it digest and let it resonate in your gut
Before you make a strike against yourself

Travel down a wooden pathway
Where glow fish taunt the fishermen
And flirt with their lustful hooks
Until they come up with empty handed respect

True waltzes with false
Where the horizon blurs into oblivion
And the massive unknown consumes the view
Until you fade into its corruption

Tread lightly when others stomp
Where conversation flounders on idle lips
And understanding becomes a currency
Until it snaps into a sudden, “goodbye.”

Break raw noodles into a boiling ***
By letting me loosen up from my stiff ideals
By giving my thoughts some time to marinade  
So I’ll have more flavor, texture, and perspective

She is sitting in a room with white curtains,
watching them fill an empty room with empty space.

She writes to a God that doesn't answer,
Because she doesn't use the right address.

She seals her tears in a paper envelope,
and hands them to a man who will never deliver them.

She twirls her hair around her little finger,
watching the sun fade again and again.

She is ***** by men with whiskey tongues,
and she clings to them for comfort.

She is staining her sheets with the blood from her head,
and she never washes it away.

My elbow is throbbing.

My elbow is throbbing because I was getting out of bed, and I bonked my elbow on my headboard.

I bonked my elbow on my headboard because, while I was getting out of bed, I stepped on a pile of clothes I had left at the foot of my bed the night before, stumbled, fallen, bonked, and now my elbow is throbbing.

I left the pile of clothes at the foot of my bed because I was too tired and lazy to fold them and put them away, but my grandmother always told me that if I forgot to put my clothes away at the end of the day there would be bad karma, and now I guess the only thing to say is that I got what I deserved after I had stumbled, fallen, and bonked, and now my elbow is throbbing.

I was too tired and lazy to put my clothes away because I had just gotten out of the shower and I was already carrying a towel, my work clothes, and I was shutting the door with foot, so in a way it makes sense that I dropped my clothes at the foot of my bed because I had to change into comfortable sleeping clothes before I could crawl into bed, but in order to so I had to drop the work clothes that were already in my hands so I could grab my comfortable sleeping clothes before letting my towel slip, and once I did that I realized it made me forget about the work clothes I had recently dropped because I was only thinking about sleeping, which eventually lead to my stumble, fall, bonk, and throbbing elbow.