reinventing to become invincible.
all my back-home warmth is freezing over--
freckle sun-girl turned ice queen.
i have run dry of all love, all patience, all sweetness.
i am cold-snap. immortal winter.
untouchable;
my heart only beats for me now.

you think your bones are ripe and fresh as summer fruit
and you know it will hurt when you pluck yourself from the vine
it should not be that way
you offer yourself to the night, **** and full-bellied and black as ink
your body bends as an altar to any star that hungers
for something as earthly as you.

i wrap my dreams around my head to keep me warm, i forget that it is the dead of summer. the new stars float and burn inches from my red scalp. the old stars let their empty celestial bodies fall to the Earth, like the skin of cicadas that litters the southern dirt when october rears its head. it feels as if it is forever dusk, but the heat of the sun persists. i am encased in my atmosphere always, like a straightjacket. i do not take the chance of letting any part of me fall away again. i let the black stars edge into my periphery. i feel safe in permanent slumber. all of my body is intact.

your imperfections
are not testaments
to your lack of existence
they are proclamations
of your absolute reality

girls like me
are big city scrape
and unapologetic
in dreams
girls like me
are delve deeper
and ****** back
in speak
girls like me
are laughing louder
and showing teeth
when we please.

you say
girls
and acid drips off your tongue
girls like me
are such a waste of energy
and we should maybe
calm down.

i don't need your warmth anymore
i am my own sun