i dont think you realize
the full effect you have on me
how much space you take up
in my cozy little mind

how often i dream of you
how often i am reminded
of something you might like
of a joke you would laugh at
of a commonality or difference

even with my rose tinted lenses
popped out of the frame
i still clearly see you
and all that you are
and how wonderful it is

I found a girl who embodies the galaxy
her soul is made up of stardust
and I have never seen anything
more breathtaking

Her lips are made of the Milky Way
and when she kisses me it tastes
like summer nights and nostalgia
sunscreen and orange creamsicles
—when she cups my face with her hand
it’s a tenderness my body has never known
and sometimes it scares me just how
gentle a person can be
when they have the universe inside of them
but I know she’ll never hurt me
as long as the stars glimmer each night
her soul will be full of sunshine by morning

With constellations eyes she looks at me
and I forget there was ever a time
where she was not in my life
because I feel like I’ve known her forever

So maybe we were created
from the same star
the universe is a hopeless romantic
that loves a happy ending
so I’m hoping I get mine
the same way I hope that she stays happy
when she see cotton candy skies
as the sun sets and I’m greeted
by the galaxies inside of her

i love the way your cheeks lift when you smile
when your eyes start to disappear
and your dimples peek out to join the excitement.

i love the way your laugh floats lightly in the air
a little giggle sometimes, sweet and soft
making my heart swing to the melody.

i love the way your lips move when you ask me, “can i kiss you?”
and i love the way they feel when you do.

i love the way you fill up silence with a song of “mm mm mmm” when you don’t know what to say,
or when you dance after a compliment because you don’t know how else to release the “ahhhh!” that is growing restless inside of you.

most importantly,

i love the way that you make me feel safe
and respected
and beautiful
and understood.

and i really,
really,
love the way,
that you love me.

feels like putting my hand
on something sharp kinda day
invincible temporary, of course
fight the system on a february dawn

where the lamp's lambent spheres
bob in and out of existence
as the sunshine overcomes their presence

first kiss with you, like hands
dancing in the fires
trying to stay warm in the winter light
an ogre of a dream, a curse to be this shadow

compared to the glow of an angel like you

what if the sky went pink
and the birds stopped their chirping
if the world stopped its turning
what if i took your hand
and pulled you closer
if i held you forever
what if i kissed you then?
just before the sun slept
before the crickets sang
and important things
began to happen?
what if
what if we had that moment
that one second
of just
us?

theres no grief like another day
with each foot
sunken into the sand-hills of contradictory continents

straddling this divide of time and language
the ocean has been colored red
from our aching hearts
since they hammered these border walls up

i’m crying at my computer waiting for my best friend to answer
i’m crying while i write this letter to my dying grandmother,
under her covers
an ocean away

i’m hoping for a call to me
a distinct answer to which
side of the shore i belong

each time i look at my reflection half of me is gone

pieces

strewn across unforgiving terrain
the stretch of an abyss
only as far as the stitches on my left hand

the six hour time divide, waiting for my sister's awakening
to tell her a dream of us holding hands,
which i won’t recall by
her morning

what is the divide anyway?
except an inherent part of my heart

i carry the world within me-
spilling rivers
crushing waves,
but it still feels so far apart