Our love was like fire but now my tears extinguish the flame, watch our dreams go up in smoke and see the beauty come out of ashes

Read the stories in my scars
I write love poems for the dead
Ink spills on the skin of my griefs
Pain written on African flesh turns to red
On black pages they read, wounded melanin forever bleeds
Not because of a dark past, but of present doom
Torn through the years, my tears on sand in empty beaches fall
Like rain on a sunny day, the storm breaks down my walls

Love is an endless spell

Pain is necessary

Me: what's your favorite color I asked
Her: red, because I've only seen your eyes after crying
Me: what's your favorite book
Her: my diary, because it only reads what we've been through
Me: what's your favorite number
Her: 3, one because me, 2 because you and 3 because us
Me: what's your favorite lie
Her: forever is, and why are you asking a million questions.. I thought this was date and not an interview
Me: sorry I'm just trying to know you better
Her: then ask me deeper questions
Me: what is your name
Her: (laughs)
Me: I tried
Her: now let me try
Me: shoot
Her: why is your every poem about love
Me: because you don't understand the words, my heart lies in the ink
Her: what do you mean
Me: it's not love I write about, but you

Blue I thought was the color of your eyes
But then I saw you crying
Red is not the color of your love
I don't know why you're still bleeding
Black is the color of my blind fold
Open my eyes so I can see your scars
You've covered them all in make-up
But it's your soul that needs fixing
Beautiful and broken, it's me you're mistreating