Cass: Favorites

Nov 2014 Cass

Joshua Haines

She smells like marmalade
and Christmas trees.
She cuts her heart
where she places her knees.
She smokes in the park,
under the skating skies.
She makes me upset
and sometimes I make her cry.

Over in the dark,
she plays in the snow.
And if she feels cold,
I touch her chest
but I don't know.

Bask in the bark:
our names on a tree.
Carved with the knife
that she swung at me.

She says she's drowning in my ocean,
but I feel no emotion.

Her words suggest our bond
is as strong as a noose.
But she only loved me
when I was something to lose.

Nov 2014 Cass

Aspen, my love.

Nov 2014 Cass

Joshua Haines

Aspen, my love.

Her voice is strained.
Her skin is fair.
Her ******* lay on the countertop.
I **** her until my thoughts stop.

She rejects the notion of love for all,
as she leans against my kitchen wall,
with a cigarette and an unbuttoned blouse-
she wants to be homeless in my house.

She keeps me in her necklace's locket,
and I keep her in the wallet in my pocket.
Her toes kiss the linoleum,
she walks like she's made of helium.

She mumbles that I taste like mint chocolate chip,
as she rubs against my hip.
Her breath smells like Malboro Lights,
and I hope she decides to stay the night.

Milky Ways and Vanilla Cakes,
she likes the way my body shakes,
as we lay and eat our troubles away.
Hurried words slow the day.

She asks me about my stretch marks and scars,
and if I've ever been hit by a car.
And I say no, but I've been hit by love before,
and it feels like getting your hand caught in a door.

Hurried smiles and bathroom stalls,
she likes the way my family never calls.
The words escape between her plump lips,
as my hand travels between her hips.

We move until we forget
that the world is moving faster.

Mar 2014 Cass

She Ties Ribbons Around The Stars

Mar 2014 Cass

Mike Hauser

She Ties Ribbons Around The Stars

When they're at their peek of brightness

She ties ribbons around the stars

She's been told by some, they like this

Highlighting who it is they are

Outside she spends her evenings

At the edge of her front yard

Reaching into the constellations

Tying ribbons around the stars

Mar 2014 Cass

Never Looking Back

Mar 2014 Cass

Wednesday

Never Looking Back

I was born “I'll give you something to cry about”
I was born in a barn
I was born halfway up a mountain trail

I was born “you don’t need anyone”
I was born in a nest of bees
I was born on the back of a horse

I was born “I’m only showing you once so listen up”
I was born thigh high in a stream
I was born cutting wood with an axe

I was born “here’s how you **** a chicken’
I was born in a cranberry bog
I was born of land

I was born "show them what you're made of"
I was born in thorns
I was born with blackberry juice staining my lips

I was born “there’s no reason to be scared of the dark”
I was born boots laced jacket on
I was born running

I was born “as a girl you’ll have to try twice as hard”
I was born ready
I was born walking out the front door

Mar 2014 Cass

Forbidden Passions

Mar 2014 Cass

purple orchid

Forbidden Passions

This madness to love
Stealthy is almost suicidal

Temptations and
Intentions blurred in a
World where you are mine

Pervesity is seductive
But honesty ruins the ambiance
You are forbidden

Feb 2014 Cass

Regrets

Feb 2014 Cass

purple orchid

Regrets

Today
You asked me if I ever
Regretted
Any of the lame,
Crazy stuff that we did

I looked at me
I looked at you
Peering behind
Your concrete walls
And told you

That I
Am not one for regrets,
Don't dwell
On the shattered remains of

What could have been
What should have been
What would have been

That I
Meant every word I said
Meant every word silence uttered
Loved you before my words
Ever ignited a spark in
Your ice cold heart

That you,
Were worth it,
Worth it all

That we,
Were draped with gasoline
We burned like veldfires
Turning everything we
Touched to ash
That they had to call
The fire department

That
The kiss that haunts me
Day and night
The urge to embrace you
Every minute of the hour
The crave for your fiery skin
That burns my fingertips
Each time I caress you
That the hole you left
The scars that are written
On my heart
And each tear I shed
Doesn't compound to regret

You were worth it,
Worth it all

And I lied
I never should have said 'Hello'
Never should have
Let my eyes turn back
Never should have
Let you come back
I should have rejected you
Should have never loved you
I hate you
You pitted me against myself
Watched me destroy myself
You turned me into
Everything I didn't want
To be
An insecure little girl
A whiny female
An emotional wreck
I was fine with being
All of that on my own

Feb 2014 Cass

Breathe Fiercely

Feb 2014 Cass

Frieda P

Breathe Fiercely

Breathe me,
     feed my spirit, burn my *****
take me to that place
I've never known,
  do that frenzied tango
that fierce lovers do
if only for a night,
   or a million years
   moments are ephemeral,
     drapes are drawn
you may not know me,
in the light of day
swift exits cause
    scarlet regrets,
don't let this rush slip away
with wild horses flight
deep yearnings stampede
emotional ties,
forever after lasts
but a twinkling in time

Feb 2014 Cass

While we were fearing it, it came—

Feb 2014 Cass

Emily Dickinson

While we were fearing it, it came—

1277

While we were fearing it, it came—
But came with less of fear
Because that fearing it so long
Had almost made it fair—

There is a Fitting—a Dismay—
A Fitting—a Despair
’Tis harder knowing it is Due
Than knowing it is Here.

They Trying on the Utmost
The Morning it is new
Is Terribler than wearing it
A whole existence through.

Feb 2014 Cass

Love on my mind

Feb 2014 Cass

rained-on parade

Love on my mind

I lose you
like I lose my mind-

effortlessly.

Feb 2014 Cass

self induced asthma

Feb 2014 Cass

Morgan

self induced asthma

the first night you wrapped your arms around my waist and kissed my forehead, i cried myself to sleep
and the first morning you called just to say "have a good day", i failed a math test
the first afternoon we spent lying in your bed, i screamed with the window down the whole way home
the first time we fought, i smoked a pack of cigarettes in my drive way with my hands shaking violently and my knees pulled up to my chest
and the first time we made up, i spent three days writing poems about the skin on your fingertips and the shadows under your eyes
"i didn't get home until pretty late, so i didn't want to wake you, but if you get this in the morning, i hope you have a good day at school... call me when you get home.. oh, and...
i love you, i love you, i love you.
okay"
i listened to that voice mail every day for the first week that we did not speak.
and re-read text messages for the first month and a half.
i still remember deleting it all. she held my hand and said, "you can't keep torturing yourself." i held my breath and said, "well there, i'm free."
but i felt the walls caving in on me.
and i couldn't understand why i needed the sound of your laugh more than the roof over my head.
and i couldn't understand how my skull fit into the bend of your elbow with more ease than my tempurpedic pillow.
"i'm sorry i haven't gotten in touch with you. i wasn't sure if it'd hurt you to hear from me... but i do miss you a lot and i hope everything is okay."
your name danced across the screen of my phone,
one time at 2:00 A.M. and i felt nauseous all of the following day.

my sister and i
swam in the hotel swimming pool
last weekend when we were away
and the smell of chlorine in my hair
made my stomach turn, because
it reminded me of the summer
we fell asleep on the floor of my living
room, with our bathing suits on
every night for three weeks straight

most days the sense of longing
is so strong that it knocks the wind
from my lungs
and i'm just afraid
that i'll never learn
to breathe easy again