Dilute the self/Dissolute self
One once whole   Shrinking hold
When half is gone   Losing these parts
The mind can heal       Uncovering old
Thin the lines           Beneath burnished
To fit in full                    Surfaces coated
**** the thoughts                        In blood
To save the soul                       ◊                   Bronze shimmers
Diamond dusted                       The gold glitters
Fake      and      plated
Remove the barrier
Expose the inner
Paint perfect
Etch the silver
Into the horizon
Beauty lies in truth
However tarnished
These coffins can make a home
And the mind can finally flourish
When the self is abandoned in place
Recovering time
To adjust fate
To regulate
Human agency
Turn the Valve
Chance alteration
Unto everything
Awaiting change
Learn to soar
Among uncharted worlds
Where truths surely lurk
Waiting for your foray
Into another-worldly
Domain, venturous
On the plateau, a
Coming-of-age.

may i always write words more naked than flesh,
more stronger than bone,
more sensitive than nerve.
may i always dip my finger into rivers of ink that will never run dry.
on the days i am not an ocean or a shipwreck,
may i always become an anchor.
may i understand that somedays words are a bridge,
and others are the fire that burns them.
that sometimes i write the words,
and that sometimes the words write me.

I walk around feeling like a bullet wound. / like I am shot full of holes and always bleeding out. This is the type of pain that you can never find reprieve from. / I put my love and trust in a number of emotional assasins. / Well disguised as friends and lovers. / Then, in one fell swoop a wrecking ball was taken to the entirety of my life. / I quietly collected the salvagible pieces and receeded off into the shadows. / I have been clutching the shattered fragments close to my chest ever since. / sometimes it draws blood. / sometimes it makes it hard to breathe.