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 Oct 2013 Dominique Espiritu
M
I like my men like I like my tea;
Strong and hot.

But not the hot that has attraction
And *** appeal written all over,

With those "come and get me"
Eyes and glances that leave women half naked in beds.

No, the kind of hot that when I
Ingest his words and thoughts

My soul becomes warm and
Open, warming the rest of me too.

He runs through me, creating an ember-like
Current to jolt me in all the right ways.

He lights a fire in me when he laughs and contemplates;
It's the most welcoming heat I've come to know.

It's like the first warm day of spring
After an endless winter of chill and ice.

His strength, though, need not be
In his arms or calves or thighs-

His strength can come from him
Opening up his world so I can

Enter and see him behind his skin,
Behind his skull so I can see his mind

For the beautiful thing it is.
His strength can be found

When he remains around despite
My insecurities and woes.

His strength is found when he holds me up
From my own tribulations so I can

Learn what it's like to come
From the bottom up.

His strength resides in his hands when
They pull me closer in the middle of the night-

He pulls me closer, and I can hear his heartbeat.
It always makes mine beat a second faster.

His strength rests in his heart when he handed it
Over to me and said, "Here, have this."

He warms me on cold nights,
And keeps me awake during some too.

I'd have him as the sun rises,
And even as is trades off with the moon.

Though a cliché indeed,
I could simply say that he's my perfect cup of tea.
Sometimes
I get scared
that maybe
I don't like
the things that I like.

That my yearning
to be liked
has caused me
to lie to
myself.

The scary part is
I don't know
if I'm right or wrong.
I like fresh vacuum lines on carpet.
I also like American flags that are hanging inside someone's house.
I like putting clothes on immediately after they come out of the dryer and I like falling asleep in a hammock.
I also really dig mini-fridges or drinking the first glass of an unopened 2 liter soda.
I like girls that laugh at my jokes and I like them more if I laugh at theirs.
I really really like sun roofs, especially at night.
Speaking of night, I also get very happy when I flip to the cold side of my pillow or get so tired that everything is hilarious.
I also need to have a cover on even if it's extremely hot and I really prefer having a static background noise like a fan or air conditioner.
I get anxious when I hear my heart beat.
I get excited whenever I'm on a long drive home and I see the first red light of my hometown.
I like romantic indie movies.
I like watching romantic indie movies with other romantic indie movie lovers.
I like the front camera on cell phones.
I like singing really badly to 90's songs with a bunch of other people who sing really badly to 90's songs
I like sunshine too...

But I really really really really like you...a lot.
Get lost!
Plunge into the cool waters of the unknown,
Breathe in its main element, adventure!
Fight fear!
Battle beasts!
Challenge chances!
Cultivate curiosity!

Get lost!
When you are navigating through
A remote road,
Alien alley,
Or secret sidewalk,
Soak your soul,
Let it dry
…slow
Do not wring the thrill out.

Get lost!
Everywhere,
Absolutely,
Is a strange somewhere and an exotic elsewhere.
He looked at me.
When I can't even
Look at myself,
He looked at me.
He looked at me and stared down deep,
With His eyes not of pity,
But of love.
The smell of burnt goodbyes
and strawberries
surrounded her

Battle scars displayed
down her arms
up her legs
across her hips

The smile on her face
didn't match
the blue in her eyes
and the red on her skin

She had lost the war
Her mind turned purple
and it all went black
 Oct 2013 Dominique Espiritu
Anna
I remember Mondays in Coach Mac's class. How I loathed yet loved this occurrence. During the period of poetry, each student was asked to write one of their own and read them aloud in class. To write your feelings, your thoughts, onto lined paper and stand in class constructed spot light, asked to peel the skin off of your body to display.

Others mastered the art of avoidance. Of detachment. They often wrote about how fall was coming or an ode to another classmate. But I was never good at running. So I wrote. Not of happiness because he is a stranger to me. I wrote of what I've known for the past five years of my life.

They told me I had talent. And each Monday they anticipated the moment that I would stand up and read.

They wanted to hear my words. They wanted to know the hopelessness of depression and the consuming sadness that I have only known. They hung on to every syllable of my heartbreak and every stroke of ink of my depression. They wanted to know. They wanted to hear. They held on because I wrote words that discomforts, subjects tucked under the rug. I wrote about the raw experiences they themselves could not verbalize. Yet they were familiar.

They wanted the words from someone else's mouth.

They fell in love with my depression but they never wanted to help.
i know a boy
who sits behind me
always tapping his pen
tapping
and tapping
fingertips spelling

i am anxious

i know a boy
who walks me to class
looks at me before I leave
his foot keeps
tapping
and tapping
and I keep waiting

for him to tell me goodbye
so I can go to class

i know a boy
who cannot stop

like a car alarm on
christmas morning

like police sirens
underwater

a boy
afraid of the pause
the rest, the wait, the halt
the slow motion of eyes meeting,
elbows accidentally touching
words becoming deep breaths,
hesitating instead

I know a boy
who is still a child

and over and over,
i loved him "still"

— The End —