Each time, I find something old that’s new
                        Hooked scar on the right hand
                   A freckle behind each ear
            Dimples just below the spine

       Find those gorgeous brown eyes
       Are traced in a ring of green
       Blue and gold flecks dancing
          Something
               Shifts and
                               I’m
                                     Falling
                                 Again

When my scars
First spoke to me
I muted them immediately
Long sleeves
Stacked bracelets

But laying here
Surrounded in darkness
Nightmares lurking at the door
There’s something…

A humming
Sweeter than honey
Soft, patient
My wrists whisper

“…beautiful, kind,
   smart, brave…

                     …please don’t let go
                         we love you so…”


After all I’ve done to me
My heart still beats consistently
My lungs need no instruction
How are they so forgiving?
Even my skin is singing

Though I’m not certain
Of the soul’s form
I imagine mine to be
One with wings

A little bird
Singing for no one to hear
Beating its wings tirelessly
Against this bulky metal cage

And of the ashes my soul shall be healed
Charred flesh and crushed bone restored
A witch no more, but a thing with wings
And fire igniting my veins

We were children
Playing with I love you’s
Like a box of matches

Stolen from the top shelf
Look at it all now
We’ve burnt the house down

Rain on fire
Beating at my back
Scorching every inch of skin

Steam rising
Encircling this fragile frame
Spilling out the curtain

Let the river rush over
Carry these tears down the drain
So I can watch the pain
Our love has caused me
Spin round and round

I loved you to the point it became a religion
Repeating the hymns of our past obsessively
To numb the heartache

In this great temple, I grew so dependent
On your entire existence
Your touch, your smell, your voice
My ecstasy and my undoing

Completely in awe, I believed it was your power
Which summoned these walls up to heavenly heights
Painting them in every color of light
But they were never really rising

No, I was just shrinking
As pieces of myself fell away into you


As the incense hanging heavy in the air
Strip me of my scent
Running greedy fingers through my hair
Stealing kisses, burning skin
While the thundering choir swallows all sound
Screaming but voiceless I drown
You are everywhere, and yet nowhere to be found


I see so clearly now, you were my Great Flood
But now I must conjure the strength
To make my Exodus
Because how can this be love?


How can I love anyone,
                                          if I am no one?