I fall in and out of love with
Every passing stranger on crooked sidewalks,
Every boy with a guitar and a broken heart,
Every man who weeps and begs for the graze of my fingertips,
Every woman with lost eyes and the spirit of a lioness,
Every stranger in
Every city, new or old, in
Every coffeeshop with clinking cups and sunshine leaking through the windows, at
Every party met with awkward glances,
Everywhere.

Baby, I think I’m drowning.

The words I want to say
Cling to the walls of my throat
Like cigarette smoke.

I am silent,
And you think that I’m distant.

I can’t breathe
But my skin isn’t wet.

Where are you now,
My averted-gaze prince?

Lost at sea,
And you’re not reaching for me anymore.

Dragon breath swirls in the shadow of a pale, clouded moon,
Fresh winter freezes the capillaries in my rosy cheeks,
Dead leaves rustle under the footsteps of a hidden creature of darkness,
The stars gaze upon me, gawking at my pathetic poetry,
The wind whistles its final tune,
And the only null to my fear rests in the assurance
That the sun will rise again in the morning.

I spilled a *** of coffee on myself at 2 in the afternoon.
I let it sizzle on my skin for a moment;
The burn told me I was alive.
It reminded me of you.

You were the oxygen I took into
My carbon dioxide lungs.
You were the long drag on the cigarette of my depression,
A choking relief.
Hopelessly addicted to you,
A ****** for your touch,
Obsessed with the pictures of you on my phone.
******* butterflies in my stomach,
Restless and destructive,
I longed for your presence every waking moment
In a bed built for two.

I made myself another *** of coffee,
Was careful not to let it spill.
I didn’t want to feel your devilish fingertips
Singeing my porcelain skin.
You left enough scars on me already.

You’re becoming ill
With thoughts of suicide
And gallons of red wine.
Your mind is full of desperate dreams
Of aliens and naked women.
Cloud your sanity with alcohol and drugs;
Drink a cocktail of desire.
Bite your fingernails until there is nothing left,
In the morning you won’t know why your hands are ******.
Shattered glasses and midnight strolls,
You are a creature of the night.
Are you losing yourself or
Are you losing your mind?

I refuse to stand by
While innocent people
Take bullets to the head,
And slit their wrists with steak knives.

I refuse to ignore the pain
Of a lover, a brother, a child lost
To hatred and to illness,
When something can be done.

I refuse to keep silent,
Pretend that if I don’t speak up
It will all go away,
Like a summer rainstorm passing through.

I refuse to believe
That mental health is unimportant,
That racism doesn’t exist,
That everyone is happy
And everything is okay.

I’ve held the knife,
I’ve heard the deadly words
That can always be left unspoken.

The fear lies in the thought
That if we stand up for what is true and just,
We will be ignored, we will be injured,
Our voices will mean nothing.

If I write for nothing else,
I write so that you hear my voice.
Now let the world hear yours.

I get a little bit sick to my stomach
Each time I see that repulsive blue heart.
Who else will be holding hands now,
Swapping kisses for hours,
Making love in the darkness?
I seem to be the odd one out
When double dates are planned.
Everyone says they haven’t seen me in forever,
Everyone says that they miss me,
Everyone says that I’m too beautiful to be alone.
Nobody seems to realize
That I’m always around,
Sitting in coffeeshop corners,
Or in the backs of cinemas,
Relationship status: single.