i write because paper
always listens

with water color ink
made permanent with a pin
an emerald garden grew
from the surface of her skin
the sight was divine
the branches aligned
& through the cracks
poured sunlight in.
the honeysuckles oozed
the hollyhocks seeped
as chartreuse hummingbirds
dank nectar through their beaks.
by her favorite birthmark
hanging from a tree
was a silver web of silk
gossamer and dazzling.
with each image set,
pressed onto her skin
her flesh turned bright red
like the rosehips near her ribs.

give me back the days
when you’d press me like a flower
against the wall
and whisper little nothings
so cinnabon sweet
they’d swirl around
my head all day.
when we’d walk
spring streets coated
in magnolia leaves
you, mr. chivalry
curbside, protecting
every milky bone in
my body.
i crave
one more afternoon
tangled in sheets
with you,
fingers tracing
places i want
discovered by you
only.
another beeswax flavored
kiss, to get me through
the solstice
not yet gone,
already missing you.

rocks held my troubles
& got tossed in the ocean
where they sank deeply
in the depths of the roaring cage
that couldn’t arrest my soul.
i thanked the moon
& watched as her body glowed
and waned to a milky curve –
crescent, like the smile of a satisfied lover.
the waves met me at the shore
longing to embrace
but instead whispering
in between tender crashes,
you are hallowed, not hollow
you are hallowed, not hollow.
i understood.

the pang never hit me
hard and fast
like the ****** of a sword
into the bull’s back
no blood left my body
as you, the matador
buried the dagger
in the ***** you
once called home
i lay under you
unfazed by the blow
spectators whirling flags
and cheering you on.
when this is all done
don’t drag me to the stall
to plaster my ruptured heart
as you would a bedroom wall
leave it dispersed in the dirt,
I don't need it after all.