Oh you
My little heartache, should only be two
Meters away from me.
I would have to cross your oceans
And battle under and over nature
And sit right by you
Still
You're only two meters away from me.

Oh God bless you, little heartache, I’m a wreck without you!
I’m alone now, holy chest pain, but a shade.
Can’t you see my lungs collapsing in?
Can’t you see my pebble eyes go dark?

To you,
My little heartache, oh what right have you
To look so beautiful sitting there,
Oh what right have you?
Alive in unassuming grace.
You’re only human yet
you’re more in every single way.

Oh God bless you, little heartache, I’m a wreck without you!
I’m alone now, holy chest pain, I'm ashamed.
Can’t you see my lungs collapsing in?
Can’t you see my pebble eyes go dark?

God by you, little heartache:
I'll fall back to the ground.
Nary a gravestone to mark my words
Never a funeral to forget my flaws.

Oh you were good to me
My only heartbreak
Now go be good to someone else.

Abed, dark, and at night,
In some God-ungodly
hour of morning.
There am I underwater,
Drowning,
watching stars explode.

                        Everything is
falling away.
                        Everything is
crumbling away.

Before me, my own life;
Out snuffs the candle,
Wax on the floor.
Burnt or unburnt
Eternities
Which do you prefer?
                        And what a difference
would it make?
                        I am one empty candle
all the same.

Everything is falling away,
                        Everything is falling away,
Out snuffs the candle
                        by whom I could not say
This is my candle –
                        — Just an empty candle, all the same!
And oh what a difference it’d make!
I’ll be dragged to the nothing whence I came!
Everything will crumble away
And the void will have its way.

If I tell you I love you,
Does that mean I get to keep you?
Or does it mean you are now the owner
Of a sharp piece of information
You may decide to stab me with later?
If you are
Ever so inclined
To tell me you love me back,
Does that mean you’re always going to feel that way,
Or is it conditional on the present moment
And you could possibly change your mind
Six months down the road
And return my heart - battered?
Furthermore,
What does love even mean?
Because when I say I love you,
I mean that I want to be with you until the day I die
And every day thereafter. (Not to be dramatic).
When I say I love you,
I mean that I will be a solid, yet cozy, foundation for you.
I mean that I want to cuddle and drink pero with you every night.
I mean that I want to fall asleep in your arms and wake up next to you in the morning
Even though your hair may be parted down the middle.
I mean that every second, my mind is housing the thought of you
The thought, just an empty copy that my mind supplies in your absence.
I want the real you.
When I say I love you,
I mean that I like you. A lot. Always.
I mean that I will watch the World Series with you and your brother every year
(even though I've never before cared about the Red Sox)
I mean that I hope you’re having a great day
But I also mean that I miss you and that I hope you’re missing me as much as I'm missing you.
When I say I love you,
I mean the very thought of loving you makes me wish I never met you at all,
Because a world in which your eyes don’t smile at me is not a world,
But a nightmare
That sends my heart racing
Eyes crying
Heart bleeding
Soul dying. So
When I tell you I love you
Please.
Tell me you love me too.

The grey clouds opened up for it.

Mikhail Morozov
Sat in a foetal position.
Pale eyes —
Empty spotlights
From which Oblivion stared.

Ri Seul-ki
Atop a podium, flung sparks.
"Flee not to your burrows,
Rabbits" —
But Oblivion took hold.

Christian Franklin
Rubbed his hands with glee.
God's fire and fury
Sprung from his fingertips.
Oblivion smiled.

Sofia Garcia
Smiled into her morning coffee.
She sighed, and typed
The very last word.
And that was when Oblivion struck.

I think I'll lie underwater
for a few years.
Wake me
when the world is
no longer a prison.

I want to lie among the stars
for as long as they will have me
and watch the greatest battles
and sleep
alone
for eternity.

"Escape this point, this path, this plane
and fly to the land of Goddownly Nosewear.
Lie above all existence,
bend reality to your will,
my child",
            ʃe said,
"You are too great for this world."

I think I'll take a bath
and lie underwater for a few minutes.
Wake me
when the kettle has boiled.

Atelic
I live on —
The present is nothing more than an endurance test;
The brief pauses are past participles
The only respite.
They are done.
I dare not look at the future
The irrealis construction —
Longing, hopeful moods that will ultimately accomplish
Nothing.

A shot.
Better yet, several — well-aimed and carefully chosen to hit me
when I least expect it. I don’t know how many.
They come from every which where
and strike me dumb.
My reaction time is pitiful.
First
the gradual realisation that I am indeed injured,
Then
the quick spiral, the panic, the *****  —
                  the blood never ceases to shock me
— and twitching legs, light dimming, eyes
robbed of character,
the gates shut.

I am but ruins, an anaphora
an empty, broken-down bookcase.

Half an eternity later,
I am returned.
I always am;
To the same battlefield, the same blood spattered wall,
the same cruel game where I am little more than a target.
Or
perhaps I am the idiot who runs
Oblivious
Into the crossfire — Who knows?
Pain is the only certainty.