I know of a small town girl with dreams of
red carpets and theater hits, maybe
shelves out of stock from bottom to top
or halls with framed portraits of the sea—
the crowds drowning, washed away
to worlds that words can not portray

A shame, she grew, this brilliant girl
stuck between youthful dreams,
and the violent whirl
of what to do and where to pluck
the food to fill her empty gut

beware the dreamboat
the end is a trainwreck

Perfection exists
in the form of blue eyes
two arm thick waists
and Malibu skies

Perfection exists
in thick sultry words
free of fallacy
too undeterred

What is good?
What is true?
Is it raw?
Is it you?

Away from your screens
Is it fleeting? Does it linger?
(Perfection exists—
not any longer)

Your arms are wrapped around mine
My name is the one you call
When nightmares crawl on your back

and yet here I stand wondering
where did I go wrong
why am I
the one alone

and for so long I hid

                      my fingertips

                 stained by the ashes


           you hold them with yours, anyway.

My ears are burning up
I'm running out of breath
Is this love?
or maybe death?

    —Just two friends in a theatre
    with one falling for the other

the adrenaline hisses
like a candle blown
the cheers
the smiles
all fleeting

        and i am endeared no longer

death sentence on a line

                     holding your breath to nine

                   a flame once burning bright



              fingertips apart, into the ashes i die