the cruelty is
that you love:
the beast
that's me.

by numb and crumb
and cartilage:
and your yet:
unborn:
clarification of stupor:

that summon:
most, daft.

penitence:
the beast has...
a chance: allowance:
to reply:
thus: i: he: who?
replies:

            yir; who asks?

stars in my eyes
like headlights flashing
leaving me standing
like a deer in the street
its the things we see
through tear-webbed lashes
stretched out rays when i blink
and the wind picks up
if i were skinnier
id be a leaf in the breeze
but my solitude grounds me
land locks me
docks me like a boat at a pier
and there are no
stars tonight
just polyfill with spiders in them
just puffs of smoke and pollution
bringing whispers
bringing caresses
sprinkling the earth
and flooding my bathrooms

my right knee is ******
i'm not sure why?
it's too late now.

Oh the omnipresent soul
like a terracotta sponge
absorbing our resolve
now and forever after.

staggering home after dark
pine needles in my hair
i've become a catholic mother's
worst nightmare

bruises and cuts
my dress in a tangle
crawling through
a raspberry bramble

ruined makeup
smudged with spit
he called me angel
but that isn't it

lost my cross necklace
somewhere in the dark
the one from my grandma
that shimmers and sparks

i'll do anything
because i'm in love
and that matters more
than the heavens above