the sea had never seemed so great
(and here you would correct me, tell me that vast is better
than great,
spread your arms wide as if to communicate
how right you were)
as it was in that moment and i still remember the way you laughed
and tackled me down to the sand
i felt the brine fill my lungs, salt water dripping from my eyes like
it knew it belonged there
tell me i'm wrong, tell me it's a ******* shame
that we never see each other anymore
your smile is less prominent over telephone wires
i think the laughter has left your voice
please tell me you want to see me again
please tell me you want to hold my hand again
please tell me you miss me please tell me you miss me please tell me you miss me
you drew on the beach that day, finger dragging through hot sand
as you squinted over the horizon
you grabbed my palm in both of yours, laid it flat against your stomach and
asked if i could feel your lifeline yet
(i feel it now
but i can't tell you
let me add that to the list, put a quarter in the jar of
whatnottosaytoaloverafterthey'vestoppedlovingyou
i'm sorry i never let you hold my hand
it's just that i'm scared of the things that follow)

if you try hard enough you will be able to taste the blood in my lungs
ashtrays bleeding liquor with every breath
don't ******* tell me you've forgotten me don't tell me that i'm worth it don't tell me
exactly what i want to hear
your voice pushes needles into my pincushion conscience,
skinned palms against a chalkboard don't ask me why i never loved you
you're just kidding yourself
i'm not a puzzle you can solve, i'm a ******* human being(i'm worse than that
better start to count your blessings)
don't dedicate your battlecries to me
i won't give you a token of my love i don't give thanks to people who want to skin me alive
if i try hard enough i wonder if i will be able to taste the blood on your gums
have your teeth retracted yet?are you safe?can i sneak out
the back door, maybe, and
hope that you won't sink your vampire smile into the nape of my neck?
don't **** around with me you know exactly who i am
i'm a ******* monster i'm in your nightmares, babe
(as a matter of fact, don't call me babe
it'll only make my skin crawl when i snap your neck)
your skin is a patchwork quilt
let me wear it for a while
let me breathe in when you tell me to, act like a lady
but i'm not a lady, baby i'm a scourge
i'll end you faster than you can blink my poems are dripping red
let me empty them into your throat

YOU ONLY EVER KISS HIM WITH THE LIGHTS OFF. YOU RUN YOUR HANDS THROUGH YOUR HAIR; IT WAS CUT A FEW DAYS AGO AND YOU'RE NOT SURE IF YOU LIKE IT. YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE JUST KEEPING UP THE PRETENSE OF THE PERSON YOU USED TO BE. YOU'RE NOT SURE IF YOU'LL EVER FEEL LIKE HIM AGAIN.

HE, AS USUAL, LOVES YOU AND SOMETIMES YOU WANT TO RIP OFF HIS ******* CLOTHES AND TAKE HIM AND SOMETIMES YOU JUST WANT TO SCREAM AND RUN AWAY AND NEVER LOOK HIM IN THE EYES AGAIN (AND SOMETIMES YOU WANT TO RIP OFF YOUR ******* SKIN AND HOPE YOU NEVER BREATHE AGAIN). YOU NEVER TELL HIM THIS. YOU ADD IT TO THE PILE OF SECRETS. RINSE AND REPEAT;;;

AS THE DAYS GO BY THE BLUE EYES START MIXING WITH THE KIND OF REDNESS YOU CAN'T SCRUB AWAY. YOU TRY TO LAUGH BECAUSE YOU'RE LIKE HIM NOW (RED WHITE AND BLUE YOU'RE A ******* BANNER AND HE'S AN ICON). IT COMES OUT BROKEN. YOU DON'T TELL HIM WHY.

YOU STOP SMILING AND THE CIGARETTES PILE UP AND THE BOTTLES PILE UP AND THE SECRETS PILE UP. HE'S STOPPED LOOKING YOU IN THE EYES AND YOU'VE STOPPED PRETENDING NOT TO NOTICE. HE DRAGS YOU OUT OF BED AT TWO IN THE MORNING TO YELL AT YOU AND IT TAKES ALL THE ENERGY YOU CAN MUSTER TO LOOK AT HIM.

HE STOPS SMILING.

WHEN HE SAYS HE LOVES YOU HE DOESN'T MEAN IT. THIS IS OKAY; YOU HAVEN'T SAID IT BACK SINCE HE SAVED YOU. WHEN YOU SAY IT BACK ANYWAY YOU MEAN IT. HE LAUGHS AT YOU.

YOU TRY TO STOP BREATHING ONETWOTHREEFOUR TIMES. YOU STOP RETURNING HIS PHONE CALLS. YOU DON'T BELONG HERE THIS BODY HASN'T FELT LIKE YOURS IN SEVENTY YEARS BUT YOU STILL WISH YOU COULD CRAWL INSIDE YOUR OWN SKIN.

HE SHOWS UP AT YOUR HOUSE AT TWO IN THE MORNING AND ******* SCREAMS AT YOU. THIS IS THE MOST ALIVE YOU'VE FELT IN AN AGE. YOU TELL HIM THIS AND YOU LOOK AWAY WHEN HIS FACE CRUMPLES.

HE KISSES YOU WITH THE LIGHTS ON.

i still feel your fingerprints at my spine, smokestacks
on a clear day,
cigarette dangling from your teeth as you spat tobacco onto my back
like it was your canvas.
the sooty backwash from your coffee in my lungs, and you are a supernova, as always.
i tried to tell you that i was a lit match and you threw me into a gasoline pit anyway
your smile is carved into my lungs i still need your voice to breathe
i'm choking on ******* fumes because you
curled your hand into my throat and ripped out my vocal chords
you told me this was the way you loved
i never know what to do with my hands so i pick at loose threads
it's amazing, you whisper into my lungs,
it's amazing what you see after you've been dead for a while
find a ******* corpse and **** it over again
the spirit never left the body
you can't rebuild a ******* fantasy you can't bring back what was never here in the first place so stop trying
when the knife twists in your abdomen i hope you feel it
you wash me down with whiskey  and smiled as your throat lit itself on fire
you told me that you were like the ******* sun
but i wonder what it felt like for your cigarette ash teeth
and your tar fingertips
when you finally stopped shining

maybe i'm a lightning bolt, electricity in my bones maybe
maybe i'm the sun
light dripping from my mouth like blood
like a bullet in the barrel of your gun
maybe i'm a firecracker
because i keep on burning
no amount of water can put me out
i am smoke
and ruin and you are the aftermath
{"i'm sorry about that night
i'm sorry that your mother died when you were nine"}
i'm sorry that i never gave you a chance to love me because i am too broken
you couldn't piece me back together if you tried
make me your slaughterhouse
i've been told that i'm good at exhaling war crimes
nail my hands to a chalkboard and tell me to draw
put a bullet between my teeth and tell me to shoot
i will try to
believe me, i've done it before
you keep saying that this is real
for some reason i don't believe you
it might be because of the way you cut my lungs out
with your bare hands
i'm still not sure if i ever really trusted you
the last time you called me beautiful was the same night that
water began to fill my lungs
you whispered it to me with your hands around my neck
(i still have the bruises)
like i was your painting and you were just here to admire your work
when you kiss me it tastes like hate
like you rubbed your tongue with spiderwebs
i've never felt so hopeless
{ I'VE NEVER FELT SO POWERFUL, EITHER;
A THOUSAND THREADS OF PURE STARLIGHT
PUMPING THROUGH MY VEINS }
you were my self destruct button
i wonder if you know how many times i tried to set you off
(i wonder if you know how often i see you in the gap
between my teeth and my tongue;
you're still making me fumble for words after you're gone)
when i told you i could never love you you answered by saying that i wasn't real
i believed you
i still do.

am i strong am i strong am i strong am i strong will i
will i survive?*
you rub your eyes dry so that no one will know
about the crumpled up tissues that still litter the bathroom floor
the discarded strips of metal shining from their hiding place underneath your bed
(you used to keep fairytales there;
now there are only monsters)
fatality is not in your vocabulary but you might need to put it in soon
you need to know that she will hold you hair for you
while you spit up blood
and she will whisper that it will be alright
even while she digs her fingernails into the small of your back
you need to know that
she is lying to you as she is lying with you she doesn't care she will call you a monster and rip out your ******* lungsbreathe
strength is incalculable
i cannot help you to walk if your legs are broken
{ your lungs are made of tar and you can't remember when it was
the last time you could breathe }
life is too sentimental so you've taught yourself not to feel
but you will still scream
as she rips your teeth out and swallows them
you are speeding too fast for me to follow for anyone to
follow
i don't think you know how to slow down
strength is a chemical weakness i wonder
what pulses through your bones to make them hate you so much
i wonder what you ever did to make her hate you so much
you are train tracks
waiting to be trodden on
strength is not in your vocabulary
and you're pretty sure it never will be
a cigarette dangles carelessly
from chapped lips
your song has never been so discordant.