you shine so bright
that the weeds in my chest
grew towards you
and bloomed
into flowers
that couldn't be called
anything other than
love

floating, flying, faltering smoke.
a cloud in the brisk winter air.
orange tip bouncing in the 4 AM darkness.
the silence before dawn is the perfect time
to smoke a cigarette.
watch your worries floating with the wisps of smoke.
away, away, away.
dissipating.
dissipating.
the boy you love is gone.
dissipating.
your confusion still remains.
dissipating.
he couldn't fix you.
breathe in.
only you can fix yourself.
breathe out.
birds chirp.
dissipating.
a car drives by.
breathe in.
the stars watch.
breathe out.
the sun is coming up.
dissipating.
a little fire over the horizon, the sky pink like the soft, innocent skin of a newborn.
dissipating.
your wayward heart throbs.
breathe in, breathe out.
the smoke floats.
your confusion remians.
the darkness.
dissipating.
dissipating.
dissipating.
breathe in.
breathe out.
breathe in.

My parents always gave me enough rope
To hang myself
And that alone kept me
From crafting a noose
But you
Gave me enough rope to hang
The both of us
And that, my dear
Is all the more enticing

Steam cools in cobbles
on thin glass

above dead pressed mulch,
coarse and boggy,

near dry silt laced like foam
on salty sea.

Between one coffee and
the next,

forgotten grounds fire
their broken dust,

remember a hot, earthy cellar,
a clay oven,

in cold water clearing
the cold cup.

You wake upon a carpet soaked in wine
to feel the walls around you stretch and shrink
and press against the pressure on your spine,
unbed yourself as tucked upon by drink.
Unwind the vise that clamps around the head
and loose the ***** that tightens at the jaw.
You twist the tendons, heavy as a tread
and strip the bolts that drive into your maw.
You wobble, wisen upright with a yawn
and warble, crooning, swooning to the floor
and crumble on the carpet with a coo.
Your cogs are locked; your curtains let the dawn
abound, secured unfirmly as the door,
as bright and strident skewers ****** you.

Darkness encircles my soul deep in Hell
Cut down on the battlefield, I died where I fell

Swirls of color and light, appeared when I passed
I was back at the battle, but now as a guest

Farther back still, we went through my past
Saw my mistakes, my pains, and my laughs

Now I know how I ended up here
I lived as a heathen and never knew fear.