sold short always
be kind to yourself
and realise the tremendous sustained effort
you put in down the years
to arrive today

**** me in a summer dress
all pastels and spaghetti straps
a shirt like a swallowed up picnic

sweat with me in a smoky car
panting through the skunk
our cheeks sun-burn blushed and shoulders freckled

swim with me in the river
polka dotted swimsuits and a sweaty beer
inner-tubes and soggy hair

sit in the grass and itch your legs
tiny black shorts and cotton t shirts
a big blanket, hot cigarettes, feeding ducks

invest in a fan for my room
while we sweat through blue sheets
peel off sticky underwear and wipe your damp forehead

wiping dirt from my knees
pastels stained and straps loose, slipping down
pink sunglasses and a picnic shirt

**** me in a summer dress

another 4:12 goes by

my hand still stings
from the night I used it to punch through her wall
when I walked on the frostbitten sidewalk
and it broke my fall
when i got sick of hearing her talk and typed
"don't call me anymore"

those days weren't too long ago, really

i got my solace in the end that their winter's grasp dripped away from my body when your spring sun showed up
and gave way as your burning summer wildfire lit my coal'd heart

Dusty you pick it up
but it's been too long
and the chords feel strange
and the sounds not right
so you
fuddle with
pegs a bit
and is
still not quote right
so twist them harder
until they
Snap and piercing
note vibration worth it's
Snapping blessed bleeding
fingers to play
cracking oak in
oiled frame ashamed
shamed smashed against
the doorways of discordant sea
there
that's better