the wind kissed your hair
just like sakura petals
I can't look away

sakura fall five
centimeters per second
I'm falling faster

you're a sakura
and I'm a cobblestone path
waiting for autumn

I left home armored
and soon I will be back home
as a sakura⠀

桜

I always liked storms
so I chased after you, and
danced under your rain

who's to say my life
isn't full at twenty-nine
to each cup its own

let me
want your future —
   one that's
   certain and sturdy
and need your now —
   where we're
   calm and quiet

where waking up
   doesn't hurt
   anymore
   because it's
   no longer
   just
   a dream

BLUE BIRD: if you can't
in one hundred and forty
characters, then don't

eight hours of sleep
eight to work and to hustle
eight to love yourself

some nights I wish you'd
just knock — it's not just my door
I'll let you in through

perpendicular
short hand at 3, I waited
now there's just 1 hand

look into my eyes
and you'll see how silently
I'm screaming right now

owning a pencil
must come with a sharpener
or skills, and a blade

we buy things with cash
to win people's hearts, kindness
is the ¢urrency

his LIPS — pressed to my
      nape — bear witness to    the SHAPE
                                        of my EXISTENCE

To Cristoforo,

It's often silent — but it's there,
the cannons aimed above our heads
under their white flags and olive branch.

Love,
LL

you took your shirt off
on your back was half a wing
inked — like my longing

your bare chest sculpted
my eyes — hammer and chisel
a thief you welcomed

your lips hugged the cig
tasting its soul — why am I
jealous of a stick

skin — your skin — excites
the hell out of me like it's
fine art on the street

waves rush towards her
sand slipping between her toes
I am letting go

on my knees — in a
way, praying that you won't take
your hand off my nape

you make the sun rise
so I look across the sea
the sun sets on me

Dear lover,

I've been feeding the white wolf
while the black wolf sleeps.
The sun sets, and I sleep alone.

If I feed the black wolf
while the white wolf dreams,
would I find you at sunset,
at the end of this red string?

Love,
LL

oh how intimate
his fingers comb my hair, to
trace lines on my nape
and see things I'll never SEE
like the inside of my ear

To MB,

I'll love you forever, even from afar.
Just think of the sun.

Always doesn't have to be near
just a secret, because we're both
married.

Love,
SP

I fall fast as if
a star from a dream, did you
see — the TRAIL of LIGHT

leaves fall like ashes
touching the ground like tancho
flowers spring from it

tonight I'm awake
so I can spend tomorrow
feeling so sleepy

my brain's a chem lab
and the chemist is asleep
— HELP THERE IS A FIRE!

two sticks — you lit one
offered me your cig — wished you
meant         your bed             instead

my head hurts so bad
tired of explaining myself
thought you'd understand

deep voice drew me in —
close enough to inhale his
secondhand stories

Dear Finch; Connor;

I'm not sorry you did it
but I'm sorry we failed you.

Sincerely,
LL

To JC,

I had no one to tell these things before:

When I found myself lost in this world
because we weren't together,
I caught it wandering in another.

One where you walked on solid clouds,
and I left the comforts of a solid ground.

I didn't want to leave
because you were there
and we were together,

but bells ring, days end,
so I came down.

My feet touched the ground.

Love,
ML

empty bed, half-light
didn't mind sleeping alone
'til we did last night

our time came and went
like the few seconds of peace
in-between bullets

what we see as change
when green summer leaves turn brown
is really just growth

am I good for you?
I'm not even good for me
— just think about that

I chase with my eyes
what my hands cannot touch — I'm
left empty-handed

I'm gravitated
like rain from a thundercloud
falling to the earth

wrong sh_t all the time
a fish is caught in its mouth
I'M the f_cking fish

she can be water
GENTLE, or wine, SPIRITED
— here I am, THIRSTY

we're to meet at noon
I stepped out, hand on the gate
the sign says
                          WET PAINT‎

lights on or lights off
does it really matter, when
either way we'll smash

yeah, I'm twenty-eight
next year I'll be twenty-nine
— nasa'n ka na ba?

I step to my right
approaching girl hesitates
she steps to her left

is there someone else?
she asked. I told her, yes, this
time, ako muna
          (I'm choosing me)

W,

I kept thinking —
it'll be easier
if I get hit by a car

instead of going to work.

Love,
ML