Wandering in a dark room
Chasing after the handle to a door
That moves every time I reach for it

Drowning
An inch below the surface
Hand above water
Bystanders every which way
Yet not one notices the hand
Extended for dear life

Calling out to a loved one
Looking in their direction
While they stare back blankly
Offering no reply

To those like me
There's no way out
Everyone sees
But what do they see?
It never resonates
How much you're struggling
To those around
That suffering is invisible
How do we cope?
How do we make life livable?

I couldn’t hide my disappointed face
This I realize now
It must have been the way
You ran your hands so gently
Over my bare skin
I couldn’t deny how sweet that felt

Is this really all I’m meant for?
Us talking when we’re drunk
Using each other’s bodies
Is this what you’re meant for?

Sometimes I desire more
Sometimes I wish I cared
You really had me there
Your touch was too soft
I think I prefer your hands
Around my neck

Things are easier for me
When it’s all lust-
No feelings
No pain

Next time
Don’t trace the scratches
You might tempt
The person I know
Is inside me

and if only she could be as the sun-
which, despite it's nightly fall,
succumbing to the moon's power
will again rise the following day
perhaps even higher and brighter
than the day before

There is a worn home
I see every day
The windows
Were left open
Inside
The furniture has faded
The paint on the walls chipped

On the outside
Everything looks the same
In effort to maintain
Familiarity

I hoped you would come back
But my eyes have grown
Tired of looking
My insides are torn
Longing for your presence
To return

I think it's time
To shut the windows.

I am granite-

Cold yet smooth
But hard to the core.
I only break
When met with a blade.

She is moon sand-

Cool to the touch
In the most pleasurable way.
Soft and smooth
She crumbles instantly.

You are selfish-

Expecting a girl to melt
Instantly for you
Digging deeper
Until you get to her core.

Well, lucky for you
With her
You can build sand castles
And shape her into any mold
While I stand strong
Because as selfish as you are
You aren't the blade;
That will be someone worthwhile.

We both aren't ready for anything
And somehow I feel something here.

You don't say it
I know you aren't looking for a relationship;
Neither am I.
Perhaps
We are looking for each other
And don't know it yet.
But we're too stubborn;
Neither the first to break.

Yet when I feel
Your breath on my skin
My lips on yours
Your arms around me
I get a feeling I can't ignore.
Maybe we're just two scared people
Giving each other
All that we can.

You told me to never let a guy ruin a song for me
But now every time I hear Jack Johnson
I picture you stumbling over the licks on your acoustic
As I watch enamored by every chord you strum

Banana pancakes will never taste the same
As that morning I was wildly hungover
And I watched you cook
As I often did when I spent the night

My nose will never forget the smell
That was naturally you
My ears will never forget the sound
Of you pretending you could sing
Along to "She Will Be Loved"

You touched my soul in ways
Few have the power to
I opened up just enough
To let you do so

Now you've left with part of me
You peered into a window of my soul
And selfishly took that piece of me with you