They say that all is fair in love and war
But is all fair in the war of love?
Is there temperance amidst the virile and the delicate?
Or is it just a guise shielding us from the bitter truths of love?

Dear brother of mine
Bold lawman in the making
Had a young sweetheart years apart

He was climbing up fast
With the promise of a bright future
And she would only be the start

But two summer days
Of ecstasy and pleasure
Were all it took in the name of time

For the young sweetheart
With his heart on a hook
To tear apart the cord of his precious spine

Now his reputation, his hopes, his dreams are on the line
Because of a young heart whose blood was replaced with slime
How can this happen to a man of pure heart and mind?
Such a burden to my dear brother will never be a friend of mine

I was recently asked “What am I going to do about this baby weight?”

Now I am a woman who feels the burdens of my sisters worldwide
And one might suppose I write to raise up the spirit of earthly femininity,
to wax lyrically of the greatest beauty being on the inside
But this is not a shout out to heal the hurts of the body shamed
This is a poem aimed like the flat of a palm to the face of a woman trying to erase her child’s history

For every whining ungrateful ***** too focused on stretch marks and thighs to see the miracle before her eyes
The gift feeding in her arms while she calculates the calories her child is burning for her
Counting minutes in treadmill steps as nourishment wastes through the holes in what might bind love tighter.
And she traces her stretch marks like runs in ruined tights
Places her hand beneath that pooch and wiggles it in front of the mirror
Clasps her hand across her mouth to stifle a cry of 8lbs left to lose

I am prostrate on my living room floor offering up my body as a living sacrifice - praying
God give me a shark bite scarred stomach in pinkish hue mapping out another dream come true
When the time comes let my stomach deflate to the sag of a post party balloon
I’ll take the varicose veins and wear them like Pretty Polly satin sheen
Every wound along the way, every scar I will frame in honour ribbons and tie my low hanging ******* in a bow
Because this is a gift for which I would give up every distraction in my life,
For which I would sell every object I possess,
Give away every penny I have and spend my life working to pay unending debt
For which I would cut off body parts as an offering of thanks
just to have the chance to feel my baby's weight upon my breast.

Ask me again
“What am I going to do about this baby weight?”
Love him.

I'm lost again
Lost again in the snow

There's nothing here
No people
No houses
No trees
Nothing

Nothing but white
and me

It's so cold here
Yet I still feel warm

I'm lost here
Yet I feel like I've been here before

I look up
I see a hand
It helps me up

The hand disappears
I see a house
I recognize that house

I reach out
I open the door
I am home

It's warm here
And I feel that warmth

I start feeling cold
I can't feel its warmth anymore

I'm lost again
Lost again in the snow

This poem casts a line from insomnia to morning
On the wind of a prayer that whatever bites, holds on.

See I have counted eleven score and ten,
with rainbow like curves of my neck -
contemptuous beasts leaping in formation
each bleating out a preach of vague platitudes;
A narrative for the night sky.

My hands clamour at keys for escape
until I tumble headfirst into a web so vast
it has ensnared the whole world wide -
millennials are living in-ter-net over in-the-world;
a new ultraviolence against humanity.

I beat my words into the screen until it breaks;
shattering scarlet emoticons like confetti
pouring over language as if it were a compliment.
My mind massages shapeless polypous thoughts
like tight constricted muscles aching for release.

3am casts these philosophies into horses,
whipping them into shape and speed
before the eyes of this statuesque ******.
This anxious wakefulness begs my manic self to dance;
suggestively ******* tickets to ride like cleavage.

Sleep is fast becoming a neglected former engagement;
as my mind trips over fallen heroes
wades through my favourite mistakes
in a wonderland unfolding faster than I can fall
while the world beyond my window remains dark.

From across the room I watched you sip;
the ceramic lip hit mine as it did yours,
the arch of your pinkie reflected in my smile.
My mouth thirsty, as you tasted coffee
warm and biting on your tongue -
I feel it between my thighs.
You were waves crashing on December morning,
and I was daring myself to drown.

Her lungs are iron gates
rattling between cradle and grave.