i don’t know how to write you anymore
maybe you’ve fallen out of favor
maybe you’ve fallen off trees
all i really know is that i can’t see
whatever you had the strength to believe
double homicide on the streets
blood, kiss, silent, dreams,
i only recall a number of things
that had me by the throat
but never made me choke
i know you’re in there somewhere
pushing me out of your home
and i remember nowhere
and wanting to be alone
cross the train tracks
let’s pretend we’re never going back
let’s get wasted
let’s let them waste us
smear black under your eyes
blow away my mind
i don’t need no medicine
i haven’t got the time
i wanna breathe you, please you, tease you, take you
curse myself cuz i know i’ll never be with you
i know i’ll never hate you
no, it’s never enough
and they show them put his wrists in handcuffs
like he’s a symbol, with charges so unfair
Smooth Criminal, she quivers at his stare
bow and arrow, female hero
don’t make me go where you wanna go
wash the blood out, wear my mind out
write me sonnets, Shakespeare’s on it,
i’ll drift through the universe
i cannot hold this life on my surface
this is a curse
don’t worry baby i’ll buy you some time
i’ll give you some of mine
i know it’s gonna hurt, i know it’s gonna bite
but i’m never gonna let them put a sword in my side
i’m never gonna let them control my mind

the year opened on two kinds of olympics:
Sochi and selfie.

we spent months looking for
one missing plane
276 missing girls,
and 43 missing students.

from Ukraine to Mexico,
Palestine to Venezuela,
to Ferguson,
the front of the battle lines
were crammed full.

their stories captivated us,
their movements motivated us.

we snapchatted, we vined and instagrammed,
we remembered their names.

Malala Yousafzai
to Mike Brown.
Eric Garner to Ebola.

we made some friends
and some enemies.

and I think,
when I look back,
years from now,
at the year 2014,
the first thing to come to mind will be,
"I was there."

you're beauty 'cause i can't escape you
you're time 'cause i can't erase you
and you're dreams 'cause i want to chase you
you're wine 'cause i want to taste you

you're death 'cause i want to dance with you
you're success 'cause i want a chance with you
you're danger 'cause i have a romance with you
you're heat 'cause i can't stand too much of you

you're light 'cause someday you'll blind me
you're it so i dare you to find me
you're chains and i want you to bind me
you're a map and i want you to guide me

i'm the ocean 'cause you can't tell where i end
i'm your lover when all you need is a friend
i'm a letter you forgot to send
i'm nothing, and that is evident

you're no good for me, this i know
all you will ever do is swallow me whole
and get away with a piece of my soul
but, my darling, i still fold

you're sand 'cause i want to sink into you
you're in my head, all i do is think of you
and i don't need to drink to call you
all i see is the month that spring brought you

you're a whisper now, i can barely hear you
and don't think for a moment that i will fear you
this may make you mad, but i no longer endear you
and so, farewell, i will shed no tears for you

seraphs in the sky,
they come chanting,
a thousand wings beating,
drinking from storms.
the window in the kitchen
flew open, bringing snow
and their shadows,
aligned with their forms.
mars and mercury may think
about this day,
and never tell their secret
to the moon.
the thought bruised my head
purple as the nebulae,
or summer's last sunset.
she twirls around the room,
turning with the earth
on its axis,
as i toss in bed.
enchanted, she reaches
for a hand of mine,
i give her one of venus.
now it is just i,
and dew drops,
beads on a web.
i do not dare disturb,
stir a puddle, or step
in any of the water
so this woman, mysterious,
may drink again.

i bring back charred firewood,
and memories, bleeding
through your mother's eyes.
she stole away to jerusalem
in the middle of the night.
you built a fortress, and like a storm
i was let in, looking for some place
but, you wouldn't believe me
i'm not something to put faith in
i bring men into the house
and you're afraid
i will become part of them
a bundle of violets,
oh, you take me back.
if i knew, i would have found my way
to the road where they grow.
i would breathe in everything you told me
like it didn't feel like suffocating
but the darkness cascades, and there's a gap
in my thoughts where you used to be
and one finding its way through my teeth.
don't you remember,
you pulled voices out of me.
oh, i have been used
more than i've been using.
more than i've been loved.
and no room left for you.
a bundle of sunflowers,
taller than i could ever hope to grow
and you put them in a ***, hope i'm satisfied
i'd have preferred it had you just left them alone.

the daughters of the street begin
their journey in vibrancy,
pretending they hadn't been
afraid of their own voices.

the soles of their worn-out shoes
beat in rhythm on the soil
that breathes tulips and coughs dandelions.

some of them will be wishes,
objects of desire in the eyes of men
who look like they have lived
their whole lives in subway seats,
ready to strike.

and i thought i would stay in this place
of directions and dreams,
thinking i could pick one off the sidewalk
like a dropped penny.

they never keep the buildings up
long enough to rust,
rain doesn't stop anyone.

suddenly there are two of them
facing each other's weaknesses
and neither will give in.

she's up to her neck in
unrealistic expectations,
he is up to his in all his confidence.

the only difference
is doubt, splashing up to her nose,
trying to get into her head.

and when she looks in the mirror
all she sees is who her mother was
and who she wants her daughter to be.

my hands are tired from all the squeezing
i do when i'm alone,
trying to get every last drop of
anything they'll give me
when i know i deserve better things.

maybe i'll just walk to work
and see the flowers on the other side of the road.

i wish they'd toss me over there like a stone
or there was some crosswalk and a crowd
i could hide myself in
and pretend i am one of them.

there is only concrete here.
how can we grow anything in it?
yes, we have the water and sun,
but nowhere for our roots to stand.

it's getting crowded on this side of the street
they speak of throwing some into the river of cars
so we have more room for our feet.
oh, won't you let some of us cross
so we can cultivate
the flowers on the other side of the road
they're drooping under your shadow.

i hope i left a gap in your life
the way losing a tooth leaves a hole in your mouth
and you keep running your tounge over
where it used to be