we’re sitting in silence and i can feel it somewhere in my bones
can feel it somewhere that you’re going to leave me someday
that you’ll look at me with eyes of strangers meeting for the first time
(and for the last time, as far as they’re concerned)
you’re whispering against my ear and it’s resonating at the base of my
spine and you’re telling me you’ll never leave, you’re so dead in
love with me and i know that you are, i can hear it in your voice
i can see it in your eyes
they way they light up when you think i’m not looking
but you’ve got bitter settled somewhere deep inside your heart
and sometimes it unearths itself, sometimes it
cuts me in places i’ll cover and try not to show you
i’ll dress the wounds myself, don’t you worry about me
and i know you won’t
one day, you really won’t
you’re lacing up promises to me and you think they aren’t empty but
they are, darling.
they are.

we’re sitting in silence and i can feel it somewhere in my bones
though you’re thousands of miles away and you haven’t held me in months
that you’re looking at pictures of me with eyes of strangers
meeting for the first time
and you’re looking for the last time, as far as you’re concerned
you’re whispering against someone else’s ear now,
and she’s thinking you’re moving mountains in her, i’m sure of it
and if she doesn’t feel that way, you get away fast
you think you’re so dead in love with her and i’m
sure you think you are
you were always so sure of things
so positive you had it right
and you’ve still got bitter settled somewhere deep inside your heart
have you let it come out? has she seen your hidden darkness?
i hope you have someone there to dress your wounds
if it ever cuts you in places you won’t show
and i’ll try not to worry about you
one day, maybe i won’t
i’m lacing up promises to myself that i’m going to be okay and i’m
swearing they aren’t empty but
they are, darling.
they are.

-k.c.
*10-03-2014

i want to hold you until all the hurt fades from your chest
i want to kiss you until there is only love in your eyes
i want the world to stop for a moment and take in the way
you turn your head to the side when you
think you smile too big. i want the sun to shine
on all the days you wake up thinking you won't make it
because i want you to know that the sun shines
on all the days you tell me you love me
and on all the days you say that i am yours
as if there are rose petals balanced on your tongue and
you do not want to hurt them
i want the wind to brush your cheek the same way
your hand cradles my face when we kiss
as if love was a garden that sprouted from palms and fingertips
and the only way we could offer it was touch
i want the sky to paint the pictures that were
in my mind the very first time we kissed
and the first time you told me you loved me
so that the colors can calm your heart
when it races and you don't know why
i want the worst storm God has ever seen ****** upon us in the dead of night
so when you come to comfort me and bring the morning with you
all will be still and bright and warm again
and the world will know the peace you bring to me.

-*k.c.

it’s cold and you’re warm and the sun is
almost about to rise and you are
going to tell me you love me and i
am
sick to my stomach
because you’re filling voids i didn’t know i had and
it’s scaring me
it’s scaring me to be whole and it’s
scaring me to feel
it’s scaring me that you are growing this close
and i cannot even believe i’m letting you
and i am worried you are going to say i love you
and i am worried i am going to say it back

*k.c.

it’s swimming below the surface
and feeling your lungs fill with water
but trying to breathe anyway
it’s digging your own grave
and watching the dirt cave in
but not being able to stop yourself
from digging
it’s running uphill
and discovering at each peak
that the hill was simply a mirage
and a bigger hill lies ahead
it’s discovering you’re choking
but no one is around
no one can hear you for miles
it’s standing at the edge
of a bridge
with no one calling you
back

-*k.c.

for every day you did not come back to me
i placed a piece of myself on a toy boat
sent it down the stream two miles from my apartment
(you’d know that if you’d returned).
some are telling me it’s a slow suicide
but that started much earlier than this
and the cold air numbs my hands
which stops the shaking
(for awhile).

-*k.c.

overload of senses like a hurricane
this town has never seen before
and i’m pleading for a sweet release
but no one tastes quite as sweet as you
(nor as bitter for that matter)
memories contaminating my dreams
and there’s smoke in my halls everyday now
as i light fires,
attempting to cleanse the air around me
from everything that breathes you
and i’ve cut myself more than once
on the sharp opinions you left me with
i wish you hadn’t said you still loved me
so that all the dim uncertainties
would not have built homes around my heart
feeding on my soft spots like it’s an occupation
building weight on my chest
inciting panic, though i have
plenty of that already
forbidden love like a ******* dramatic play
and you’ve left a light in your window
that i simply cannot keep
i’ll sing you sonnets as long as you live
but distance is a murderer in the quietest of ways
and i’m still digging through the dirt with my bare hands
hoping for a salve to the wounds we’ve self inflicted
and maybe with time the pain will subside
but you’re planted deeper than either of us could have expected
uprooting you would be the death of me
so i’ll settle for silent days and sleepless nights
ebbing aches in my bones as every inch
of me longs for you
and i’ll hope that every time your hand reaches out for something
it shakes slightly
wishing it was reaching out for me.

-*k.c.

if you pay eighty cents for a lover
don’t be shocked when he doesn’t call
his life doesn’t depend on it
and neither should yours
don’t be upset by the blank stare in his eyes
his supports aren’t deep enough and anyhow
all he’s known is hell
and soon enough it’s all that you will think
your weary heart has ever chanced upon as well
don’t be surprised by the rough feel of his lips
his countenance
those weathered hands have gripped more weapons of the body and mind
than you’ll ever need to know
and someday it will remind you of the way you
sometimes hold a pen
like it holds catharsis instead of ink
he’s known more causes of pain than
all the days you’ve lived alone
and you think you know depth
you’ve hardly covered your toes
wringing your hands like they’ll give you answers
like they’ll cast off the shadows that live in you now
sweet release is not for people like you
and you should know that by now.

-*k.c.