swept underneath tide
horror ride
lungs salted
screaming
& tried

they'll never know what
broke her
for each story has a
side


but there'll be those few
feeling fellows
who could read her
through a
sigh


breath flow like
pen to paper
so carefully applied


my dear, how much
did you bleed
out

to let them know
you died?

wake up
get real
stop living in this cloud where you think
you don't have to clean
because you do
every day
yes, every single day

you are not your mother
you don't have to live in a hoard house
'cause life hasn't gone your way
yet

it will

but you have to demonstrate patience
& strength
as well as stability

& a girl who can't take care of
herself
isn't very **** or
impressionable

so get with it
clean your house
smile
get some sun
before the weather gets
cold


& remember how to be
alive

the weather starts to turn
her eyes start to open
a bit
from the retreating sun
the prairie starts to cool down
& she looks around
to catch his gaze in the
strangest way

like he'd been looking for her

heart pulsing like
a nightmare dream
she pretended to be invisible
& ran back into the
trees
he followed to the other
clearing
hoping she'd be
nearing


but oh



she kept on
running




she'll never see the
beauty of
burning eyes into the
back of her hair


& he'll never have to wonder
if he ever played
fair

his shouting at some game
woke the baby
woke her
fury

& hers is a silent type
latent and laced
with a promise that
it'll come back to him
someday




someday never comes




she wept into the porcelain
edge of the bathtub
believing she was at fault
for all her faulty
relations
who'd want such a
fragile mess
in the
first place?


she thought she heard his footsteps
& quickly wiped her
tired eyes



"its a bad night to be
alone



but that's the way it
goes"

the drought has taken her
clever words
& scattered them in the
dust

there's no life out here
the winter kills
& the summer kills
leaving us
with warm, briefly pleasant
intermissions

wait for me by the shore







I gotta get the **** out of Dodge

she will force herself
to wake with
the day


& contemplate why
she has always
obeyed


she wanted to drink
until she was
numb


but the heart can't push
what the devil don't
shove

at night
you seem to come
to me
through the warmth
& the quiet dark
between
the narrow slit
of the moon
& the cold champagne
that rests glassed within my
fingertips

I've seen you too often
in the day
& there aren't many words
as we burn
underneath our angry
sun

you look your most
handsome
when you dress in
black
& I would never dare
turn my back
upon you




even if I promised
my own heart



that
you weren't worth the
wait