the new day brims
like holy sacrifice
when do the wires cross
and we become stagnant?
like the lava lamp
in my room that only
glows red
so many ways to keep
people out
like swipe cards and
keys
time
like little men that
sneak into
your skin
like tangible regret
like the cut on
my ******* that
keeps getting opened
and all the things you've ever said  
meldling like a shadow
outside of november
like 3:00am and cards
for kids that will never
read them
and seeing the good
in people that isn't there
like pillow talk in front
of the christmas tree
and building a fort
out of my flimsy
bones
like james touching me
out of love or angst
feeling everything and
trying to contain
it all

i asked how you were doing
because people
forget to do that a lot
like the way they
forget to clean the lint
out of the vent in the dryer
like the way they pass
you like a sea of faces
when they've been inside
of you
their eyes
once preserved the
lining of your skin
like embalming fluid
that trapped all of
your best qualities
like an essence in
a polaroid photo
i'm glad that
you found someone
whose shadow you
could watch like
a second vision of me
her courvoisier hair  
falling
down her back
like a freudian slip
you peeled my layers
like an unrelenting onion
except your tears were
like history
they floated across
the air like the
ships that carried my
caramel brown
ancestors
like the clouds
that showed
them the interpretation
of dreams
that grew and breathed
like daniel ceasar's voice
at 12:33 am
like accepting love
that you don't deserve  
and eating two pieces of pie
right before you go
to bed
telling yourself 
that life is too short

i still don't know what
i'm trying to say
like dissecting a frog
in 1500 ways
looking for different yellow parts
that piece together like
a baby's first breath
like touching yourself
with your other hand
and pretending it's someone
else
maybe i feel ordinary
because i've never made love
or ******
under the volcanic ash
of someone's dark
body
never let anyone
park inside
the yellow lines
that trace my body
like ridges in
the earth
like gaps in
time that i cannot
take back
i have no idea what i'm
trying to say like
boxed wine
and a kiss from a girl
at 7 am
on third floor north
hall in college
like slicing people
into their better halves
and accepting them
like the way time is  
supposed to heal
but doesn't
i still don't know what
i'm trying to say when i think
about uncle tyger's voice
rewinding time
like green grass on
the park that day
like war and sand
like hot air and forgiving
i still don't know what
i'm trying to say
when i see myself
shedding my skin
like spring in heat
evolving like the best
portrait
of human nature
i'm not afraid to be
caught loving you
in the harsh elements
even though
i still don't know
what i'm trying to
say

how you put too much
garlic in everything
and the way
i miss your presence
like longing
for white hills and trees
you: like overthinking
everything that started
before it began
like: dc in the summer time
you: like jail breaking
our favorite moments
capturing time
like a shared vision

the white seconds
look like a
blanket of snow
on your mustache
have you stopped running
from the air
that tastes like lost time?
the gap in between your
two front teeth widens
like truth when you
tell me about the past
and how you used
to get into
a lot of fights
when you were in
7th grade
their names hard
to remember now
crusting into
the bottom of
your mind
like sugary milk
i never found the time
to ask you the important
questions:
how have you been since the
world has stopped?
do you still chain smoke when
you're anxious?
are you still beautiful?

the interior
of your face
illuminated by
your yellow
laughter
and the wrinkles
on your skin
that evolve like
the best parts of
the south that run through
you
me: like slipping from
the past into now
discovering you
like my own best kept
secret
like: stitching time into a quilt
you: like the melody of your life
that breathes like first love
under the
***** of
my seeking
heart

i'd **** the moon
to relive those
cyan minutes
where you were
half the man
i'd always hoped you'd be
when you didn't blame
the circumstance of time
and the missteps of
your 
ancestors
whose flaws you
worshipped like
second nature

your black mouth
gaping open
like cognac
your midnight
fingers
suspended in the air
absorbing the
verdant curves of
my mother's body
that read like
von Guérard's
Lake Wakatipu

i want to
find you
on the verge
of complete absolution
the precise
tweezed hair
second
when you moved
so eloquently
in my mother
and created me

there are foreign
objects  
stitched
so seamlessly
into my DNA
and
you ask me
why the
silken birds
fell into
the night
when i let
you
touch me