I have to write a paper
But I want to write a poem about you

Of course, I’ve procrastinated
On both of my tasks

It is the night before this
Deadline

Yet I still can’t come to see you
As a distraction

So I will type out
The rungs of this term paper

Queue up letter by letter
Of my passing grade

Drag my feet from thesis
To conclusion

Paying my price of admission
With time

Until I’m so close
I get hit by your flashing lights

Blue and round
Putting any barker to shame

I see them through downpour of
Pressure

And winds of
Insomnia

Knowing I’ll get there,
Get to

The Ultimate
Attraction

You left
a white lighter
on your coffee table

so that when
we'd go back
to collect your things

from a crime scene
we had been to
countless times,

we'd know that
you died
thinking yourself

a King of Rock and Roll.

But really
you were
the prince

heir to
all the love
dad had to give,

bestowed upon
year after year
with the kind of too much faith

that only
parents
can give.

You heard
their lessons
about the world

being your oyster

but never payed
attention
to how to care

for
your
people.

You were
always
about the show,

You'd give all
the glitz
and glamour

off of your very own crown

thinking that
if love didn't sparkle
people wouldn't know it was

there.

But then
someone gave you
purple-hazed glasses

and suddenly
the world was
love in your pupils,

they flooded
your irises
with a shine

to which no amount of
family jewels
could compare.

Your eyes
had seen
radiance

and all you had
to go back to
was flaw

you saw
a life
that was hard

and surprisingly heavy
for being so
empty,

And you just
kept chasing
the smooth blues

that would never hurt your ears

or play you
the old song
of wasted potential.

Even as you wandered
popping and
repopping your ears,

our love was
dull to your
rock and roll lifestyle.

I know how much
you missed how it
was before

you got discovered by it,

eager and seething
to sink its hooks
into another good one.

Instead of
writing your own
song,

you faded
into the old
one.

And now,
I've lost word and
lyric,

melody is
ash
in my pen

because the music
wasn't in me,
dude,

it was in you.

And now the record
keeps playing
through the air,

but none
of us
want to hear it.

When you went,
you left us with
a ****** white lighter

and you took the music with you.

We sit down
At the Bar

You remark on
My posture

We order
Your favorite

Jack and
Coke

We sling
Them back

Double Shots
Burning my belly

Your eyes fill
With disbelief

I can see
The photographs flash

In front of
You

School Pictures
Prom Photos

Graduation
Shots

All Stacked up
Underneath this very

Bar-
Stool

My eyes roll
Away from sentimentality

Laughing it
Off


I order
Two more

I can hear you
Tell me to

Slow
Down

As if
Recorded into

A Broken
Record

Even now
I’m still

Your Baby
Sister

As My
Vision Doubles

Your Smile
Remains

As One

Though
your voice

Seems to grow
Faint

My throat begins
To burn

Feeling myself
Crying out

Over a space
Much more vast

Than the distance
Between

Our two
Barstools

Before I misplace
Myself Completely

You
Catch me

Your other Half
Your little twin

I will
Not be

Doubled
Over

We are
Celebrating

This
Birthday

As I blink
To see you

Through
My blear

I see you
Preparing

To
go

Mirroring my moves
To put me at ease

But your
Cheeks

Have lost
Dimension

Your color
No longer

Changes in
The light

You pull your
Hands away

Not wanting to
Make me

Cold

Insisting I’m
Warm

My clammy
Palms

Push
Forward

Just in
Time

To
Catch

That
Paper

Wafting
Down

I ****** it
Up

Staring at
Your smile

That always
Did

Photograph
Well

Flipping it
Over

I tried to
Remember

When you had
Signed

This photo
You could never

Have known
About

I refuse
The answer

Wary of the lies
You will believe  

When you
Split drinks

With A Memory.

I was not
The planet
Closest to you

No
Not even a planet

I was
A Moon,

Only
Close enough
To have been touched
By your light

You see,
As a moon
You live your life
Half in
Darkness

So you know
A super nova
When you’ve met one

The problem is
The stars that
Shine the brightest
Are the very same ones
That burn out
too soon

And now
Our atmosphere
Feels the emptiness

And we hope
That space
could create
A time warp ,

Another dimension

Where we could
Stay with you

Feel your brightness
Forever.

Please,
Starlight,

Know you were in so
Many celestial Orbits,

And we feel
Colder,
At our cores,
Without you,

Our vision
Has darkened.

You,
A constellation,
All on your own,

We have only
Your stardust memories
To hold

When our tears
Shoot like
Comets
Down our
Faces,

Thank you
For the wishes,
Starlight.

I hope to
Catch your
Light
In another sky
One day.

Truth is the word
That we’ve always
embroidered
Onto my pillow

But instead
It’s that I’ve never had
Enough knowhow
To sew my

Secrets anywhere
Except the
Soft, pin-cushiony
Pink of my lips

It is always you
With truth shears in
The hand you’re always
Extending

That sets them
Free
To fly and
Find light

Your work on
Our tapestry
With little fingers
And quiet tenderness

That many
Will never
Feel

Your vision
Of our bigger picture
Unravels before me

Making more sense
With Every stitch

When I leave my
Heart
In places so
Cold

You help me
Pull strings
To drag me back
To myself

You remind me
That my fabric is
Fragile and
Precious,

But never to fear
Cutting away
What no longer
Fits

Being Raggedy Ann
Always comes with
Its share
Of loose threads

And I’m forever
Thankful

That you
Tie them,
Hands un-judging

In knots
As intricate
And beautiful
As your soul.

I was red wine,
You were blueberry.

I was robust and full-bodied
Maybe the only one
As unpredictably
rich as you

And much worse
At concealing it

We joined in
Meals where we only
Discussed
What we were hungry for.

But in our starvation
We confused eachother

For food
And we tore
Ourselves
Apart

Imagine Breakfast
Lunch, and Dinner

Smiling across
at you
From the other side of
Your pillow

Because we
Weren’t after sustenance

It was never your taste
That satisfied
but still I had been licking
The salt off of your skin

Somehow, I was the one
That felt raw in the morning

But we were new to
The institution
Munchies were to be
Expected

But our empty calories
Created blockages around my heart

Only the basic needs
Slipped through
Reminding me of
The hunger I was stifling

We boiled over
And looked elsewhere for feed

You had broken
Your diet lifestyle
Not seeing how
Emaciated it had made you

You indulged yourself
On the richness of being filled

And you threw it up
Silently in the bathroom
Flushing away
The burning

So no one
Would ever know

But I saw the color
Return to your cheeks
As we set our table
For the meal we would

Never eat.