Time has molded each of us
into the perfect shape,
has defined our edges finely,
has smoothed our surfaces so slick so
we may slide into one another
and make a perfect fit.

When you tell your daughter that your life has been a series of near car crashes
Forgive her for mistaking the gloss behind your eyes - as nostalgia for a wreck that could have been
Forgive her for clawing her skin with the intent of stirring a tornado so violent she could match your presence
You taught her to see you as a fatality; too late to be saved, too proud to be held

Remember that an animal licking it's wound does so out of self-preservation, not self-pity
Remember that saline is salt water and tears need to be shed and that humans are capable of healing

Remember to feel
Teach her to pummel her fists
Teach her to shout down the boys

Remember the hollow below your heart that echoes like an abandoned house
When ivy grows out from her chest cavity and encapsulates all around you
Remember that she is not unruly
She merely sees within you a potency to create beauty

And consider her ability to grow and grow and grow
Encourage her to expand
Be mindful that little girls should never need permission to occupy space
Be humble - she may even teach you a thing or two

romance the burnt sea
love its stain on your writing hand
romance its dark waters
and the stillness of the words it creates in your heart
evening light shows the beast of tides
gnawing at the sandy shore with restless hunger
feed it your naked feet as you run through the crashing waves
feed it your devil fish of ******* clad thoughts
but hide your face lest it see you and desire you

the beast of tides feeds on the velvet sands of paradise
while its offspring feed on starlight
ever hopeful of redemption foolish as it is

she tells you she loved the beast and the burnt sea
opened her heart to its plain plight
cared for it mended its wounds
spread herself to its darkness
now as it lay off shore she longs to swim in its dark water
she speaks of joining its bitter love
the burnt sea has hills like waves in the grasslands
creates creatures to chase this butterfly
all must taste of salt
even the sky
and the beast and the burnt sea shall see it done
she surrenders her naked feet to the
and rejoices in the salt scent
romance the burnt sea
for it is loved as she is

He is next to you
and he is real
and you have never felt skin so warm.

You've never been held like you were really meant to be here and you've never held yourself and you're afraid because never have you ever felt so in place never have you known a home like this and in the backseat of his car and while it's cold,
never have you felt so alive.

And skin on skin has never felt so alike and his inhales and his exhales have never been anything but the world's greatest mystery or a rising and setting sun or a room filled with nothing but moonlight that you've been dying to solve since the day you heard his laugh boom and boom in your brain like an avalanche ready to melt ready to **** ready to resonate forever in that bright part of you for the rest of heaven knows how long and I guess that means until we make love again.

His body: the entirety of every single spec of his being, is praying grounds.
And I will worship every spectrum of the all reasons I love him until I can tell you just what I mean through every word I say, without blinking an eye, without breaking a sweat, by only accomplishing the impossible.

And when you find that you love someone else, more than you love yourself, please realize, that that, is not love.
You are only halfway there, and you are not caught in his repertoire of thunder
of thrashing lacking oxygen under layers and layers of the ocean and wanting nothing more than to be side by side
until you find that you are in love with yourself too.
Until you can stand still in a tsunami and still speak the words, "I am not there yet, but I am okay."

He is beauty sealed in flawless flaws and even these I fantasize about.
All of which I can recall like the back of my hand but I know his better
and I want you to know I think I love you more than anybody has loved anybody and I will
always,
as tenderly as I can,
when our dreams come true of soft light through white bed sheets highlighting the patches of hair on your face that you hate so much and your lack of a six pack,

Know that you are lacking nothing.

Because you are everything.

You are every last droplet of beautiful in this world
you are every single ounce of hope that lies deep within me
you are so much of the sweet that I want so badly to grasp in the throbbing palms of my loving hands
needy, only for you,
and I would not have you any other way.

I want you just as you are, as purely as I can have you, for as long as I can.
I want to make you know that you are, in every form, the most entirely breath taking human being that has ever graced this existence of ours.

In a vow to you:
May my pulse never run cold.

It's so hard
seeing couples
In the summer
At the beach swimming
Sharing lunch
Making breakfast for each other
Driving anywhere
Doing anything
When I can't with you.
I spend days thinking of you
Without you and wanting you
Some days we have our moments
Spending limited hours at a time
Calling and talking to you for an hour
Only to have you preoccupied
Lonely. Conversation scattered
You have the chance to see me for a whole day
But you say next month maybe
You won't
Work is more important than me
You say it's not
Do you see me cry when I hang up
the phone?
"I'm just tired" I say.
It's just hard I think
to stay this superficial against what really tugs at me.
Maybe I'm just selfish
You say you can picture me with someone else spending days with him that I could have someone else. How could you say that? They aren't you,
I shiver.
I just want to be alone with you for a day.
It's hard like stone. When the tears pour. I can't think like this.

The moon's still full
it shines so bright
I wish you were with me
Here, tonight
To fall asleep with
And hold me tight
Until those golden eyes close
To say goodnight

I'll heal your pain
Make you feel right
Always I'll be your guiding light.

To go away with you just one day
just one day.
That's all I ask
To have you
and you and only you
To hear your laugh and listen to your thoughts
Be together only us
And go back
Fall on a bed and just sleep
That's all I ask.