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 Apr 2014 James Jarrett
Jane Doe
If I die before I am a bride,
bury me with these words in my mouth,
as an I-told-you-so for the creator.

If I go clutching my maiden name
in arthritic hands like beads of a rosary,
tell about it at my funeral.

There must be a hymn to sing,
something like:
I kept every vow I ever made.

Put me in the ground in ****** white.
As if that'll erase the one-nights, love's malformations,
the way that matrimony might have,
in simpler times.

If I die with vacant bedsides, I instruct you:
take me to autopsy
remove my heart and check for scars,
then instruct the mortician to place it in my hands.

Like a bouquet.

To have and to hold.
Don't ever fall in love with a poet
because they will indeed admire and watch your every move
they will write about how the pen marks on the side of your palm when you write
don't ever because they will trace
every single freckle you have on your face and
write about the color of each and every one of them and
describe how they smile so brightly under the sunlight
they will want you to want to know every little thing about them
even if it's just what hand they write with and want you
to be wondering why they write with that specific hand when in
reality it doesn't even matter

the poet will watch the way you dig
your eyes onto that book and your small quick remarks onto the 26 letters all crumpled together and will know that everyday at 5:28 p.m. you smile

they will look deeply into your eyes
to see if they can at least take a little
peak of your soul and they will write
about you like if you were the only
thing they see good in this world

they will want to know what you think
about when you look at them and
see if you also count each and
every freckle and hope and write  
that you do but they will
love you endlessly and they will
show you that they love you and only you

but don't date a poet if you aren't
capable to watch them and
admire their imperfections
when they sleep late at night
beside you.

j.f
The world paints an impossible portrait of love;
You are to reach into their life, convince them that
their heart is yours, show them your strength by holding it
aloft, treating it gently, but here we are made
of only flesh and blood, which may as well be mud,
And this we cannot maintain, the sweat and blood flow
And erosion of our minds eats away our strength,
The strain makes us squeeze, and the tears that roll down our face
are poison to that heart aloft, so heavy borne
And before we know it, we are floating, adrift,
Arm half-cocked trying to predict the tide, floating
In filth, a poison we’ve made, lies and hope and fear,
Sitting on a powder keg, match lit and flicking
We know, if we let go the pieces fall too far,
And the toxic pool will claim this precious thing, that
We always knew was ill deserved in the first place,
And our own poisoned fallen heart remembers well,
Someone once held it aloft and failed to protect,
But our strength wavers before we know what to do,
So darkness and retreat are the only safeties,
From this shameful wrath at fuses end and tides call.
But all is not lost, perhaps there is something more,
A way to dispel this fear and greed with courage,
With an honest answer to this truth confusing,
With love we can hold our own hearts to the heavens
Whenever we trust there is another out there,
Others with mud stacked high, scented with fading lies,
Still willing to put something deep inside them first,
And share it aloud, if only with just the one.
 Apr 2014 James Jarrett
Amanda
"One eighth of my heart is for tea & penning silly things on blank pages."
she murmurs under her slow breaths.

A little inward gasp falters her heartbeat upon the realization that the seven eighths of her heart has been unwittingly stolen by Mister Him.

"Sweet-heart, you have managed to take one ∞ of mine."
His voice is like buttery sunshine on winter-bitter skin.

"That's not possible, silly boy!"
Her smile punctuating each letter, sighs of bliss lives in the spaces.

"What I meant was: You have taken all of me. Not just my heart.
Soul & body.
The little kaleidoscope of moments I think at 2am are already hopelessly tangled with that hell of a smile, the astute wittiness
and
the
curve
of
your waist."

For now, I have only taken one whole of your lips. I think. He pauses and winks a upside crescent moon.

I have made you

*speechless.
Hello there lovely!
I hope with all my heart that you enjoyed this nonsensical writing!
x
Can you run,
Your softened fingers,
Along the outskirts,
Of my brittle bones.

Push them down,
Until they jut out,
And pierce through,
My cracking skin.

Can you hold,
My head under,
The murky depts,
Of darkened water.

Sew my bleeding,
Lips together,
And make sure,
I cannot breathe.
You can't hold the torrent,
Of salty water,
Captive.

You can't keep it all,
Locked up,
Inside.

You can't stop the hidden,
Tides from,
Rising.

You can't think,
So let go,
*Just cry.
 Apr 2014 James Jarrett
Molly
Jokes
 Apr 2014 James Jarrett
Molly
I am not writing this
to get attention
or pity
or so people will tell me
I'm beautiful the way I am.

I am writing this
because when I post a poem about
being terrified to look at myself
because I hate what I see,
it should not be added to a collection titled
Humorous.

I am writing this
because when I sit at a lunch table
without a brown paper sack,
boys should not laugh when they ask
what, are you anorexic?

I am writing this
because when I watch Disney Channel
with my eight-year-old cousin,
I should not hear jokes
about skipping meals.

I am writing this
because when you google
anorexia is,
the first suggestion should not be
anorexia is good.

I am writing this
because our society should not
expect people to be paper thin
but judge them
for trying to get there.

I am writing this
because insecurities
are not a joke,
*no one
should be laughing.
This makes me angry
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