you get one day to cry
but tomorrow
it’s time to fix your crown

I'd sit back on a lawn chair before a wide ocean,
look at the sparks on the sea and the sky
I'd think and think about beauty like it's not a waste of time

I'd drown my mistakes with years
The skin their hands touched would disappear.
I would get drunk somewhere in the beaches of Guatemala,
kiss strangers--

like the lights over the ocean at night,
like still water.

I would breathe, for once.

Smoky hues are what I see

Smoggy vapors hindering me

Suffocating my esophagus

Closing the gap for air

I take advantage of breathing fine

Until the taste of that sooty despair

Post-coughing fit drip

Trickles down smooth muscle

Dispersing harmful combatants

Respiratory defenses on high

Propelling toxic slime

Attacking vulnerable minds

I met you as a person
Adored you in every way
But Stayed for your soul