all I know is how to take my pills and how to be alone

the table is set
but no one is home
this is why our Christmas decorations have been around for so long
we're all gone

will whatever is in me
blossom and bear fruit?

or will I be left to rot and
wilt
like the rest of the flowers
a bouquet for you that is now gone because you are not there

Whatever your favorite currency is
I will burn it

I never meant to hurt you
but I did

a loser should have no intuition
but I do

The doctors
told me
I'd have
a year
with no teeth

zero teeth
a hero lies in grief
with everything beneath

As it grew
As it were
As it falls

zero teeth
hero obsolete
forget what lies beneath

if only to make it brief
rinse and repeat
chew but don't swallow

smile, smile, smile

Lead but always follow
Making sure is just the burden of my borrow

comfort in quicksand
a labyrinth of off-colors
conclusions with a knife

I put an ad in the paper for someone to carve me to the bone
To whittle my bones into shivs
To gently strangle me with cellophane from the cupboard right where you knew it was

You knew it

I can sense you from miles away
I can feel your touch in passing tides
I can see you in my dreams but I don't want you there

I wish you'd have asked first
I wish you'd have hung the phone up and gone to bed