An inch away you stood
You stared so deeply into the oceans in my eyes
so indefinitely into my soul
I'll never forget the way you smiled when you finally turned away
An entire minute of you indulging in my presence, of all things
You knew me in sixty seconds
And I never thought I would care for someone with the entirety of my being
The way I effortlessly cared for you in that instant
Everything viewed in black and white until I met you
Your persona so technicolour, the way you swayed in front of the sunset
Your fire burning heart, pumping the blood that keeps you alive just to let you stand in front of me
Taking long, smooth drags of your cigarette hoping for a quicker death, just to reincarnate all over again
And that hair, baby that hair
I could get lost in curls like those, and I didn't refrain from doing so
I shared words with you I thought I would never share with another living person
I always believed in not sharing things with anything with a tongue, but you were different
My lungs felt larger, as if they could expand to let in every bit of oxygen of the universe to let me breathe just to speak to you
Just to feed you knowledge, share with you everything you wanted to know, and refused to walk away without
I could listen to your voice for hours
Whether you spoke or sang, the serenity of words leaving your gentle lips kept me
Alive
We could drive for days in my car, we could get more lost than Alice in that maze in wonderland
But it would not matter because we were together
That is all that ever truly mattered
It was like an addiction
We needed each other to breathe
I found myself smoking your cigarettes when you weren't around to cloak me in your secondhand smoke
Or I'd search for your cologne tinged in ***** clothes from days I had been encompassed by you
I could look at the moon and know **** well you were doing the same
and thinking of me in the same moment as I was thinking of you
You left trash in my car for days and I wouldn't touch it
I left it there just to have a piece of you when there was no sign of you for weeks
How pathetic
Your energy resonated through my whole body and I longed to feel your warmth
I could hear you whisper every night as I rest my head to my pillow
and I dreamt of tracing your veins and kissing your collar bone all night long
The day we met, you intrigued me with transient sentences
Elusive, leaving me begging for more
You should come with a warning label
It would read; May cause trouble breathing. May tie knots in your stomach
Laugh might be addicting. Eyes might steal your soul in one minute
Just one minute
One inch
That's all I gave
You took a mile

It’s that time of the year
When commercials appear
to implore us to buy this or that.

For the shopkeepers fear
that without Christmas cheer
They will never get into the black!

Some Fraud in a red suit,
Quite obese and hirsute,
will be called on to hawk toys to tots.

Johnny Mathis and Bing,
Ad nauseum, will sing
old chestnuts of holidays past.

So we wish you Merry Christmas
Now that Halloween has past.
Here’s hoping, too, perhaps that you
might spend as you did in the past.

Let the registers ring
It’s a wonderful thing
To see all the rich spend their cash.

anything
and
everything you
hear from my mouth
can be

credited to fear
and
cast aside

anything and everything
you hear from the
tips of my fingers
is a product of too much
thinking

and

too much wanting to
get
further

and



further away

and should all be kept to myself

It's chilly/overcast
the street is empty: wednesday 215pm
everyone is at school or at work
This is when I thrive.

No worrying what each car is thinking of me as they drive by
the urge to check the backs of my shoes in case I've stepped in something is diminished.
"Whatismyhairdoingarethesepantstootight? These pants are too tight.
Hide your cigarette so they won't see. Am i walking in a straight line?
Should i be on this side of the road or the other
There's no sidewalk I don't know.

Someone I know
Someone I ******
Will inevitably drive by
Pity me
'That's her isn't it? Why is she walking by herself in the cold?
She doesn't have a car? Pathetic. She can afford to buy
cigarettes at ten bucks a pack? Irresponsible.'"
Head held high walking down an empty street
Useless.

I feel the heat still radiating from newly-parked cars
Small and fleeting moments of relief
Akin to meeting eyes with an attractive stranger on the street
Making whatever this is
Easier to bear