We were different
Like winter and summer,
So we made our little spring
To balance it out.
But then fall came.

Never be scared of
The darkness, because
It will swallow you
If you are.
You should be curious
And try to reveal its
Secrets, because then
It will have no choice
But to flee.

“Love hurts.”
Maybe it’s supposed
To be that way.
Maybe you need
To like that pain.
Because maybe,
Just maybe,
It’ll all be make sense
In the end.

Call me your knife
For I am the one moving deeply against your flesh
For I am the slick blade that finally draws blood
For I am the weapon that at last pierces straight through

Today a man told a **** joke.
Everyone laughed.
I stood there and thought about it for a moment
And then I asked,
"What is funny about that?"
The laughter stopped
and they stood there in silence.
The momentary silence of shattered illusions,
There was no answer
Because it wasn't funny
So why laugh?

she calls me
she calls me & I don't answer
she calls to say her grandma
is failing fast & the twins
aren't sleeping & they're angry

come on over I say
I only have two calloused hands
& a sixty hour work week
bony feet & a bottle of
chocolate wine & I ask if she's ever
slept four on a full sized mattress

the boys will be fine I say
bring both elmos
a set of pastel paints
& you can run your fuzzy-sock feet
up my legs & warm your small hands
on my space heater heartbeat

grandma will see good Friday
& easter sunday I say
& probably even her own
late April birthday
barely audible as the boys snore
like miniature sawmills
through peppermint toothpaste
ringed open mouths

the last thing I feel before sleep
is her smile stretching across my
bare chest & her hands catch fire
& wander toward a cooler spot of skin