I never knew a heart could bend
so far without breaking.

You never knew love
without indiscriminate taking.

We are what myths
strive to be.

A lovers’ journey
dissolved to
valiant tragedy.

Bow your head and drown out the voices.

This is the word. I say to you and your lips alone.

“Kerosene never smelled so appealing as it did that day

we loved under the mask of fumes.”

Dizzy and lost. Our eyes shut to the heat of firestorms.

Between us, we were burning.

They act as if survival has not been its own battle. I am living
with accusations
clawed into my flesh
by my own body.

Placating to your storms
I temper the heat with unresolved tension.

Disintegrate your body into mine
It’s been so long since we’ve been one.
Missing you felt so cold.
Breathing you in like patience

To let this go
no more hiding in secret places.
There is no safe haven.
You are everywhere and nowhere at all.

You have been hurting since your body took root.
Anguish has taken
tangible form
gatekeeping your healing.

You are worthy of peace
and empathy,
and so much love.

I hope you stay to feel it.
I hope you stay

I fear my turning
as it has been without disparity
or admittance to healing. With a closed fist, I scream my agony
Into trembling hands. Still a spectator
not a comfort, on my own. I hold within
inherited strength from ancestors not yet raised
passed my groaning ribs. I live in fear  
of my birth. Setting lose the creature,
I welcome its hopefulness.

Measuring the ways in which

I disappear

Mind, Soul, Body.



When asked to tether myself to thoughts

that anchor fear onto bare ankles

balancing the edge of diving boards

leading the way to calming chlorine.



A sideways home filled with

emptied liquor cabinets and screaming doors.

Silencing words before they reach

the underside of my babbling tongue.



If you ask the heart why it self-destructs

Forgets to beat, forgets to hush.

The cause of the ringing in your ears

You mistook for love.



Vanishing girl

floats to the bottom, then

bites her tongue, and falls in love.

She falls in love.

She falls in love.