hazy boy with eyelashes
crashing each time he touched the ground
(landing gear never works)
i would watch him untie his shoes, then
extend along my curves
mapping them with his signal hands
but the way he charted me
taking note of which route to take
i was nearly a temporary landscape to him
he was traveling
other mountains other countries
other bodies
collecting passport stamps
just below his ear
and a girl like me just couldn’t
fulfill a wander
or a lust
like his

it’s when i’m sleeping that the wind curls my hair into sporadic gold knots

as though my body is asking for someone to latch onto

when someone is worth latching onto

they throw sea salt into my lungs until i’m drowning

my knots turn into nests

before i know it i’ve got birds living in my head

singing sweet songs about flooding in the neighborhood



i’m a good girl

i was taught not to wake the neighbors

even when a boy has his wrists around my throat



every girl has learned to balance the act of being good in the daylight,

pure and sweet, you must cover your mouths when laughing at jokes

while a bad girl wearing black carelessly knocks on your door at midnight



i let the sun shine out of my mouth until you’re uncomfortable, blinded

drenching you in sentences, compliments

i’ll give you a ******* sunburn, even late at night



i am a hurricane

and when everything is still, the storm has not passed

no, you’ve entered my eye

and that’s when i’ll breathe my sorry goodbye



you haven’t left me yet, but you will

not because i ruined everything you ever loved

but you realize a girl like me exists



when i’m done with you

you’ll wish you had evacuated like the news advised

boarding up your windows and getting the hell out of town

you’ll sigh along with me, and pretend you’re not scared

the sun will rise, you’ll leave messy hair in knots

dying to latch onto something

wishing you could name hurricanes in november