You play your space much too fast,
Too lose,
Too unspecific
For a promise-maker
Fresh meat in a foreign house, and the very strangest kind
8 moments of suspension is 7 too many times
To hold our breath together
Hoping the rain caves in the roof

You repeat what I say in agreement,
With eyes like planets
You decipher scattered characters
Click the lock into alignment
It pops with relief after rust and a thousand overcast summers
Tired of the burden of keeping secrets
When my body speaks,
She bleeds completeness
Knowing more than I ever will

You repeat the question, “Can we just lay here awhile?”
With eyes like planets

In my fuzzy, tumbling mornings
You are still the light of day
Even if it’s only last night’s matches,
And I exaggerate the flame

If I’ve been ejected from the sky and shot through a forest canopy,
Only my torn clothes to hold as I walk the amazon, dehydrated for days,
Then you are the rain


When I wake wrapped in hot skin
Layers of itching ash, fallen paper-thin
Too frozen from the smoking door to reach the window
You are a headlamp
And a deep voice of salvation any trapped creature would know

I am the sea to your sky
I create your blue and you pull me

You stare at me scared and blinking like I’m a passenger jet on fire
Like I’m a golden-haired loose cannon fitted with trip wire
And you’re a fragile cloud of smoke
Written in the sky, the wind could tear you down and flip you inward
Buried down six feet just to sing about the dirt
And how you clawed your way out
How next time you try to fight the straight line and die in the right light, you’ll pick a sunny place to drown
You torched me like a teal-eyed lighting bolt
then burnt the hospital down  
I’ll wring you like an orange
Until I’ve had my fill and can live with the taste in my mouth

Hold me back?
Allow me to rush forth?
I wonder who you will be and where you will come from
I take guesses at the language you might speak
And with it, who you will coax from my menagerie
To dance with you in the jet fuel and rising flames

Fainter, darling
I don’t think I could hear you cutting me down under your breath
Try a different angle, perhaps
I don’t think I could quite feel your ***** slicing into my chest
If you wanted to plant a garden over me,
All you had to do was ask
I know I’m woven of the brightest colors you’ve ever seen
I know you’re tired of going blind,
Fighting the escaped circus bear of memory
How can you lie to your delicate self so easily?
Are you ready to admit why you’re losing sleep?

How full would you be of yourself,
Until you were sick and nauseous?
How many limbs off my body would I have to give
Until you had a brand new version of something to twist and condescend
How large is your glass?
Could I fill it from my veins?
Or would you scream that a drought was upon us
Is that just how bottomless
Your soul extends?

When you have nothing else to say,
And the country is quiet
I’ll take us down to the river
She is heavy and overflowing with debris
Blackened, cracking wood
From every fire set at our parties of starting over
We divide our acres and part
I hear the hiss of your sleeping breath in the rain,
I feel the train in my feet
Like the heat under my cheek from the blood in your heart

Every night I spend awake long enough to see the sun rise
In the pale baby blue I see your eyes
Every morning I catch quick enough to see that first light
I remember how alive I left our first time

You are twinkling and breaking me apart
I cannot help but stare,
And thank any kind of God
If I had forgotten them before,
All the words now dissolve into my hair and skin
Like salt in the lake I’ve been living in
Underwater and untouched, unopened to anything
They call me home to shore
My body weeps and seeks heat
You gather my limbs like a bouquet
Blooming through your chest and arms

I try to tend to the wreckage on my own
Because the sun is now so bright
And I hope maybe it will dry the rot and water-logged pieces
But I don’t have enough water to make new blood
The salt clings to my skin and holds on
How close to the animal body is the voice of the heart?
How close are death from dehydration and falling out of love?
Is there anything you could do that would ever be enough?
Was it your plan to **** us both,
Just to be right all along?
I wish I’d fall asleep and wake up taken
Taken from you

He’s a hot crackle on my cold skin
Soft skin of lips on my cautious hand
A real pretty face
Something of my own soul to sink into
Robins egg eyes make a waterfall down my face
Rush across my body
Below the midline,
He finds the summer of me

South state animal
You were hiding in my backyard
For the moment I was starving and needed sharp teeth
To catch me something living and breathing
To eat
You pointed my gaze to the strength of the natural moon  
I found that intuition was enough

Suddenly I remembered I could hunt

Please **** the floodlights
Keeping our entire house awake, climbing the walls
Put a tiny heart inside my body,
Becoming everything from nothing at all
Tell me you’re shaking, even though you hate me
I will keep you warm and still
Shut the door on who we’ve been known to be
To its death,
Let fall your will

Perhaps her shocking, clean blondeness
Will cleanse you of the hate you carry
For the very body that indulgently hosts it
You’ve let the bar drag the lake so easily,
And I could never compete with your love of mediocrity
So what’s left to gasp and squeal, drown it  

Darling,
You can burn.

I try to speak our language with other people
I can almost hear you laughing at me

It sounds like hail on a windshield

It’s fatal to twist my stomach this way,
Yet he leaves me to walk around
Having swallowed glass and nails
I’m both starving and so full, I spill over

Leave me
Leave me
Please, I’d hollow out this body
Rather than be a whole woman with a single piece of you still inside me
I’d rather crash this car while I’m young and sturdy
Than wait as you take four steps back for every five forward
Slipping skyward like running paint on the horizon
I was earthbound, I would’ve died trying
I believed in a tether we couldn’t see but it was only lights and strategic wiring
Our first night failed us, now it’s miserably dated
Every night I still ask it into my bed
I still sleep with it right next to my head

From which would the worst hand be dealt,
That they should see into my soul like an open wound,
A throbbing problem case,
Or for their own to be missing entirely
Abundance and absence are sisters in a carriage,
Dressed in ribbons
Sewn in breathlessly tight and bickering
I’ve not the modern medicine to heal them
Of their fevers

I see how you treat her brown eyes so well,
The most delicate touch
Among the softest air
For if it cannot be mine,
There is nobody I’d rather see protected
And glowing under your sweeping gaze
The most radiant flower,
Shining under a misty rain
She is lucky and I see it most clear,
Your pure sentiments I hear
And when she needs you very most,
You endure a mile backwards
To walk her home

I could’ve used your hands today
I was drowning in a pool of eyes
Paper thin and soaked through
With your hands held about my face,
I would have found new air in you
With your voice through a tiny tin wire
I could’ve opened up and fallen into

My soul would have been loved
And already resold
For your warm “they’re nothing like us.”
“Lover, let them wilt in the drizzle and drown,
I’m the rows of corn that feed the world,
And you’re the Sun.”

Are you my kiss behind a studio door?
My costar in our own little story,
Whispered between the rest of them
As we sneak away into the bright city chill
Just after mid-morning,
The very highest of the Sun
Are you the radio tuned to the perfect distraction?
I know music rushes in rivers beneath you
Swelling,
It collects in the windows of your vision
Aquamarine, polished,
Are they hard enough to deliciously shatter my heart?
Is it me with whom your growing vines bloom into,
As we play different parts?
I’d leave it where it all began,
Once the end has come  
Alone, on a glossy wooden floor
I’d trust you with my secret
If it was also yours

Frost over my hands and feet
Break my fingers off one by one
So I’m reaching for you with saucers devoid of joints
Easily shattered with sharp logic
Only you have read the book before,
And I am usually the one so eloquent and collected,
Falling just short of being bound together

Crash against the surface of my face with a hundred-mile chill
Disappear into the trees again
You are not the forest under elemental pressure,
I have never been the storm
You arrive in me as the devastation
That, laying on my broken spine,
Flooding eyes fracturing the skylight,
I gasp to gather meaning from

An ebullient, sparkling bird I am
On my toes, pinning about the wooden house,
Curling and placing each golden strand
As a game or ritual to become full again
He comes to string me up as lights
The things I ask are of “what does this mean?”
For his, he gives “to create our world, I need light to see.”
I force the door with wool wrapping my feet,
As if he’d ever hear my racket
Before his body felt it

Multiples of flurrying life
Dancing on the country green
My hands warmed of the cup,
And the company of your chest,
I slept by the fire all night
I am all woman and untangled muscles
You stand bare and newly awake at the window
Blinking,
And I cannot tell who is doing the reflecting
The lawn,
Or the aventurine
That through which you see the world
That from which the most subtle gaze
Unfastens me

All too fickle, quick and glossy
As the silent and raging tide
Blinking at me like a twinkling planet
Like Mercury,
I’m convinced you exist
Though to see him bare
Would be to nearly miss it
Heavy handed is the reckless tongue,
All too rare is the fire
Able to weld two jagged, mangled pieces
Undeserved and virginal is the prayer
Making them one

I’ve no body of ivory or pearls,
Even then,
I would blend into the blankness created
So seamlessly painted
If not to give you faith,
These pages upon pages
Are soaked violet in vain

Finally, I hold close to me
That I do not know why the stars flicker in and out
Before going dark once again
They are beautiful still

How the sky glazes over in clouds,
And your raven’s heart
Keeps me just as freezing cold
As icy drops on a window
Hoping for a spring thaw,
Followed by a summer glow
Here,
They feel out of place
Come the next holy day
I’ll make peace with them again
Settling where I belong
Among the meadows and fog

The foreign tongue you speak
Is not of a country known
Or believed
I welcome quiet,
Though complete death of gesture
Deafening silence
Is what you give to me

I do not know why the stars flicker in and out
Before hiding once again
They are beautiful still

I should’ve known
You’d feed me to the forest floor again
I’ve read medieval tales,
Guessed each gluttonous end
The maiden dies by the sword of her love,
Or resigns to playing pretend
I won’t stubbornly awaken
I won’t touch my flesh
To your jagged, poison edge

Your iron briars wither
Down to their sharpest point
Through the deepest wood and bone
They slice

I think to myself,
If you were to leave me
As soon as in the hands of tomorrow
How imprinted,
Pink and new
Would I want your outline
Over my shoulders and hips?
I do not take each new morning for a fool,
For I have tasted years without you
And you have seen death
In your brother’s eyes
Onto lonely wrists,
Your hope splashed and dried
I behave in terms of forever
For I have felt last chances
Fluttering in my hands
I let them bend and crumble
I wish you’d think of our possibilities
Evaporating peacefully
And what you’d do to change fate,
Do tomorrow

Unfurl, and
Altogether bloom
I am now open to you
Warm, I can
Spread out thick
Fine and ****
As though turned to sugar sand
I only have a velvet “yes”
Jumping at the gate of my lips
I only have clean hands
Held out open to you

I would be your lace enclosed
Dewy Irish rose
Your wide eyed
God-fearing wife
I would scream and taunt you,
Echo into the country night
Just to keep your tongue wet,
Your muscles used,
Red and tight
I’d tell you we need
Three ivory linen sheets
One to practice,
And perfect our technique
Two to plant
Each poppy seed
I’d fill you full
Up to the brim
Present to you my golden hair
To lay down all your worries in

If this black,
Blood red,
Billowing fire
Could rage any higher
Burn up the oxygen
Your false words selfishly syphon
Convinced they require
It would be a mighty
Heavenly force
Indeed
But within the grand canvas,
Quite a minor feat
For theatrical,
Impassioned,
Merciless me
Never so kind
As to stop at your feet
I’d bury you alive
Cut holes for your
Lying
Eyes  
Force you to watch
The horror of melting earth and trees  
The irony  
Of the rain so closely watching,
And choosing to leave

I do not have much
Of your arms, or legs
Or fingers,
Enclosed,
Or opened wide
I do not have much of your naked eyes
Pooling wet around the green,
Specked with golden fireflies
I have not many of your lines,
Remembered well
Much less memorized
Much better
Is every word you tried
To skip across to me
A smooth stone from the lakeside
So that maybe
I could see the signs,
Come to know your heart
In my own way,
On my own time
Once I settled in with the crickets
To play the flute in our goodbye,
The saddest melody,
My only lullaby

I hold too much water in me
There’s too much space to swim
Or so I’m told
An infinity of things that can go wrong,
When there’s that much room
For strange plants to grow
And who knows how far down it goes?
Or if the people in the village
Nestled right in by the waves edge
Would lose it all
If the tide came in too close
How in heaven,
Could we entrust our sons,
Could we entrust our boats?
After all that rocking and thrashing
After all the unpredictability she’s shown?
We’ve trashed and traumatized her sand and foam,
Left her thirsty and lapping at the shore she owns
Now she’s just a bit too close
A bit too vast to predict
Or control

Loose ends so frayed,
Tie mine,
And I’ll tie yours tight
I’ll cauterize the fibers,
So they stick together
Like kisses on a humid night
We swirl, and combine in a bowl
Raw sugar and spice
Wrap up together and find answers in time

I’d love a neat little package
With our names scratched on the wrapping
Telling the story of us
How only now
We’ve just figured out
We’re in love

As soon as I left,
I’ve seen you every day since
If I warm the bottle in my hand,
Slowly take a sip
I can still hear the river at night
Taste the juniper on your lips
That nervous glass would have me fooled
Shaking,
And just as full to the edge
With things to give only if
We’d allow ourselves to

A sweet spotted Chrysanthemum floats on a river,
Caught in twigs, and escaping with only drops of dew,
To sparkle and show evidence of a small battle won
Against the rushing fervor
Blown from the bush of her brothers too early,
She is young and sturdy
And the dragonflies flicker,
Her pinks and purples dancing their improvised number

An explorer cuts smoothly on the river,
His vessel rich and warm,
Tough, but none too weathered
Rippling and golden bronze
For he does not fear the sun,
He knows the reward of burns gained
Under a long and heated touch
Explorer sees flower,
Scoops her from the water,
Only to see she’s plucked herself all on her own
His velvet palm,
A heavenly home

I’d never heard anyone
Call you by your full name like that
And standing between the tall terraced houses,
I swore I could see your eyes through the cracks
The gaps in the brick
This crushing weight I feel could surely cave in my chest
The flower pots laugh and tell me I’m a mess,
I soak the leather seats
Wishing I was soaking in your breath
And if you were a fish in a tank,
I’d beat on the glass until my knuckles bled
And if you were deep inside the earth,
I’d find a way to make them bury me
Whether through feigning,
Or truly being dead

I cut into our tie,
So thin and wire fine,
But thick and heavy as an iron rope
Frozen,
And expertly sewn together
Reinforced and broken one too many times
The scar tissue,
Now ruining my life
Preventing the truth of your heart,
And the freedom of mine
I slip in my sweat,
Each and every night
Going at the tether again
With a dull and desperate knife

If I’m a waste of time,
Then you’ve had a lot of quick wins
You must have put a lot of ends
On your dime
If I’m a waste of time,
Then you’re a sewer swallowing soap
Mouthful by mouthful
You bubble up
If I wasn’t worth the mere seconds you spared,
Caring for my heart
Or tangling your hands in my hair,
Then the letdowns you’ve seen must block the sun
Towering high,
Becoming one
Because if my undying love,
My tears and torn throat
My nails on your back
Entire nights on the phone
Every train I that took,
Your favorite boots that you own
Were a waste of your time
I’m sure your ticker is broke

A shoot and miss in the dark,
I try to guess your thoughts
Hope it won’t hurt but will burn just enough
I beg you through silence and telephone lines
You take a shy bow,
And blow out three dozen lights
Grind me down ‘till I’m powder fine
Holding so steady and strong,
I beg you to try
Hold me close
Kiss me goodnight

A full body, lilac blush
I look for new summer leaves
To crush,
Under my zealous feet
I look for ways to bait you
So you’ll notice my purple hue
As I refuse to breathe
Refuse to move
Plant my heels in the burning sand
To match your working boots
Hold a heavy mirror to
All it could’ve been
Simply the same animal, we are
In the end

The rain said to the tree,
“You’ve taken my heart,
Will you marry me?”
And the tree looked down
To the earth at his feet
And he said
“I love you too,
But there’s a problem you see
Some days I see the sky blacken and shake
And you become a hurricane
In that state, you destroy me
Tear up my roots,
Rip away my leaves
You water the ground,
You give me all that I need
Shower life upon my seeds
But I am scared to open upon to thee
To be strong in your raging wind
And give you my everything”

Just a simple flick of your tongue in your wrist
To purge your mouth of all of this
To let you pretend that you forget
You tease me only to justify it
How you get set on fire
It’s easy to fib when you’re a ***** liar
But I love you so
Let’s find a high rise up in Toronto
Promise to hold me tight,
I’d do it for you, though I hate the snow  
Make sealed promises
See how it goes

You move,
And send me a mile out
You pour, and I bloom
Endless stars and open space
Bleed from my open chest for you
The very greatest,
Of all creation
Burns hot and white where your lips left it
Your eyes filled with rain
And all the green buds that have flowered again

My love,
I have starved endlessly for you
And in that stabbing, rolling ache of hunger
I found that emptiness was pure
So bare and raw that when you came to me,
You could fill all space
Uninterrupted by a single lingering remnant
Of what you’ve made me long forget

You,
Like a rose garden in July
Being fed and nurtured by the Sun
All sights and sounds of things grown pure
And of the divine
Not crashing and breaking like waves
But softly swaying and holding a reflection
You are a lake with every color dancing on the surface
Natural, and occurring no matter what
Like the seasons

You’re the moon over the ocean
And all the light in between
Rising high,
Washing over me
In your love,
I’m clean

You’re bitter,
So you won’t pick up your phone
Is it the principle?
Or would you rather be alone?
I know I’m a whole lot
To swallow in one pill
But you made a promise
Keep it in your pocket
Or at least keep it close
Your silence at my spite is all I need
To know we love each other still

Did you heal me overnight?
Or did I do it on my own,
Just like I crafted the rest of this show
Is there something you just won’t say?
Or millions of them
Let’s spend a night in Vancouver
And take turns testing, then
You soak it up just like me
Everything you are is everything I see
I’ll take my time
I’ll linger while we say goodnight

I poured a bucket of rain water
Straight onto your bed
And as it all seeped
Down into the sheets
I was left with pebbles in the end

Baby I suppose
I’d rather be soaked
Than suffer in the drying sun
Or never have known

Even clues that aren’t about you,
You apply them to us
So I guess I don’t have to worry about the digs I drop
For you to find in the moss

Lover, I thought my life was going to melt
And fall off the bone
Instead it flashed before my eyes,
Now I’d rather be alone