I’m not sure you know what it’s like to love
someone you know is only going to demolish you.
What it’s like to give your body to someone
who doesn’t care what it would look like
turned inside out, the beauty of it
dripping from your bones, the words that haunt
you when the lights go out, the dreams you swore
to catch but just nearly missed.
I’m not sure you know what it’s like to watch
for the expiration date, wait for
that last good day before the question
is asked, the “where is this going?”
the self-promises not to reach out to him
days after you’ve gotten the wrong answer.
I’m not sure you know what it’s like to prepare
bomb shelters out of empty Ben & Jerry’s,
your roommate’s wine, your favorite leggings
and a blank document. I don’t think you know
what it’s like to play tag with each other’s tongues
in your bed while you just wait
for it to be empty again.

I love all the things you do,
all the stupid little hair flips and the smiling
between kisses, how you cradle my face like you just know
you’re going to tear my smile apart one day,
but you don’t get it.

You don’t know what it’s like to be the girl
everyone breaks. To have to watch days
on your calendar pass by while crossing your fingers
that today isn’t the day he grows tired of your jokes,
the day he finds the sparkle has faded, the day
the disinterest starts. You don’t know
what it’s like to hold someone you know isn’t ever
going to be yours.

Abridged in still uncertainty,
autumn swept up its weeping leaves.

“You’re the red leaves on the tree,”
paused, breathed in,
“and I’m the green.”

Of the fall, you thoughtfully said,
“one is dying; the other, dead.”

Dragonflies only live for 12 hours. That made me really sad when I thought of one that spent the whole day trapped in my room. It just kept flying into the glass of the window, hopelessly trying to get to what it could see in front of it but never getting there and hitting the invisible wall each time. It kept at this its entire short life until it died.  Then I realised that we do that too.

there was a time, i remember
when my ribs were filled with innumerable seeds
and with the promise of spring there came a downfall
it was then that i grew,
my bones, they breathed in lilac
my lungs blossomed, dripping with floral honey
so i could taste sweetness

my ribcage, it bloomed this garden
but everyone picked the petals of my precious flowers
until i was left with far gone stems
that was when my anatomy cracked

this earth, it stomped on them
a skeleton that once held meadows shattered its bones
at least there are no more flower stains
but it's rotting inside
those decaying bones are friends with
my rose-tinted blood

Today-
Reminded me of the beautiful china
In my grandmother's house
Strong, shiny, beautiful
Worth a lot
But even the best observer
Couldn't see the chips in the glassware
The many times the china had been dropped
No one could actually tell that it was broken
But I could tell.
Because even though sometimes I looked
Strong, shiny, and beautiful,
I was broken as well.