her lips are soft,
soft as the breeze.
his lips are kind,
they would only kindly tease.
together they make two lips,
yet they would only freeze.
but she found a girl,
beautiful and sweet,
and he found a boy,
who said he'd never leave.
together they make two lips
and they will never freeze.
for now they are free,
as leaves leaving the tree.

My mom said I wasn't real,
When I told her the crash wasn't her fault.

She was a thrifted sweater and denim and jersey knit sheets
Pizza breath and red wine and toothpaste
Alabaster skin and knotted hair and freckled shoulders
A tangible dream and my favorite good morning
She agreed to let me kiss her and I agreed to let her slip my shirt over my head before she became
Blood and tears
"I trusted you" and "I’m sorry"
Midnight poems and a drunk "I need you"
I’m afraid I loved you like the way I wrote

It is a sickness.
Words pour from me
Truth and fantasy
Since a child.
I have a writing disorder.
People run for fear I'll share.

When in the fever, it spills from me
on napkins and paper bags.
It surrounds me.
It drowns me.

The disorder seizes me.
Words written in lost notebooks
long forgotten.
The writings disappear, but the sickness
never goes.

Uncontrollably, as green in May,
words spread over me.

Not telling me you care
Not responding
Not asking me if i’m okay
Never being the first one to talk
Not saying anything when I text you at night
Making me feel worthless
Making me hate my life
Lying
Making me sad
Making me feel like I care about you and like you more than you care about me and like me
Making me feel like it was my fault
Being the highlight and the lowlight of my day
Letting me down
Making me feel left out
Making me cry myself to sleep

a whisper to the side
a tingle up my spine
a teleprompter in my head
that i forgot to mind

an opening cabinet reveals
my lunchbox is a shelf too high

i will admit,
a couple of things come to mind

i must have left it on the counter
for i cannot reach that top shelf

you must have placed it up there
finding me too much of a mess

i work to keep this roof above us
but all you see is where i fail 

and when i don't meet your standards
you always make certain i'm aware