We set fire to the truths inside us
Hoping to find some comfort
Among the ashes
But I know good and well
There really is no escape
From the stakes you've pushed
So deep in my skin.

The cold will always exist
It will always find us
It'll wrap itself around our frame
And squeeze until we're dust
And the agreement we had with fall
Will always break our trust
And like the leaves
We wither away
Lost.

How can you take
A knife to my chest
And be confused
When I say that
I'm broken?
I never asked you
To dress my wounds
Or undress my soul,
Yet the very hands
Holding me together
Are the ones
I'm afraid of.

One thing is imperative
That you understand:
I will bow to no God,
and kneel to no man.
I am sure and steady
On these feet where I stand,
And any faith I possess
Is placed in my hands.

Can’t you hear me?
My tongue hurls your name
Into the wind
Moving east
Urging storm’s brewing
Rising with the chill
Of eery lake
Carrying my echoes
Through clouds of haze
Damp desperation
Voice, strained, releases
Surges of rain
And sleet. Pooling,
Pleading at your feet
Drown in my essence
Watch as it breathes
Watch as it weaves
Through the valleys and summits
Of your goosebumps
In intricate lattice
Ice lace tourniquet
Asphyxiating sadness
From sore hands. Solitude
From weary eyes. Silence
From blackened lungs
Darker than the thundering sky
Reverberating anthems
Of my unfulfilled soul
And my direful need
To be made whole
By you

You're so violent
With your words
And I take the blows
Because at least I'm touched.
You inject your poison
With a kiss
And I love the taste,
Painful as it is.
If loving you is suicide
Oh, how I love to die.  
You say girls are prettiest
When they cry,
How beautiful am I?

The sun shines brighter
When you’re around
Its flare, skin’s sustenance
Coaxing your June freckles
To breach the surface
So that each one is met
With the warmth of love’s kiss
Unmatched by labyrinth ribbons
Of luminous passion
Wound sound around our souls
Life’s star, a neat bow
Wrapping us in an embrace
Of everlasting glow

Foolish, are we, to believe
That even the brightest sun
Could possibly intimidate
The ubiquitous darkness
That clings to our hearts

The sun will always rise
Will always reveal
What we've failed to hide
When it is seen
With whiter eyes

That's the thing about insatiability
It can't be compartmentalized
It doesn't have an appointment
Or even a purpose, really
It is a persistent, unwelcome fog
That creeps into your skull
Until it smooths over every surface
And dampens every thought beneath it
And though some days
The fog may dissipate
Nothing is ever good enough
Not for long, anyway

When my body and soul
No longer entwine
What will become of my spine?

Does it sigh solaced croon
A hymn-silken harpoon
Propelling me
Through
Threshold everlasting?

Or will it crumble by piece
Like moldy blue cheese
Marrow vinaigrette feeds
Famished nerve roots
And dirt
Absorbing lost life,
Fueling the Earth?

Perhaps a doctor
Will pass it along
Loaded syringe,
Silver and mauve
Into flesh as fresh
As death’s final breath
Enervated vertebrae
A-positive strong

Or maybe it retreats
Into shadows sea-deep
Steel-tipped discs
Flash of shimmer
As they sink
Footholds for lost souls
Sin-dark landmarks
Untouched by warmth
And
Unseen by stars

I've waited countless nights
For the sun to rise
And finally found the light
When I searched in your eyes.

Your love shone so bright
It sent my soul awry
And though day turns to night
I've never felt so alive.

I have accepted change
And that everything will change
And I've accepted that our feelings
Won't forever be the same.

But I've learned you shan't focus
On keeping the flower alive
But rather watch as it blooms
And lay it to rest when it dies.

The only thing I crave
After drinking myself sick
Is to be in your presence.
And I'm sorry for all of the drunk calls
But you never answer anyway.
I'm wondering if I'm nauseated
By the whiskey in my blood
Or the coldness of your eyes
That practically shouted their goodbyes
And gave me nightmares
About soulless creatures
And almost lovers.
I feel like I've said this all before
But you're never around to hear it.
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you,
But I'm sick, sick, sick.

I do not shield myself
Between the mortar
Of feeble walls.
Instead, I’ve built mountains
With summits surpassing
Thunderous clouds, erupting,
Brimming valleys and moats
Lava-laden, I control
Fiery dragons
The size of islands
Welding forest trees,
Armor adamantine. I have
Trained wind to whip
And freeze at the flick
Of a tongue.
And with each false step taken,
A crater awakens
Parting the earth
In sacred places. Revealing  
Razor-edged abyss —
A merciless ether,
Crusader’s monolith.
In the end, it is I
Who must venture
And slay, navigating the terrain
Of my tortured dismay
Reclaiming my power
And rightful throne.
Behold, vast kingdom:
The monarch is home.

Sweet, sweet boy
You must know love
To be so good
But goodness rests in your hands 
And its nemesis 
In your eyes
Pleading to me
To get down on my knees
And beg for your time
To kiss each finger
As it grazes mine
Trailing down my neck
Shivers down my spine
Pour your soul through my lips
Wring your saccharine 
From my hair
With your fist
Sweet, sweet boy

Finding beauty in the transition
From fall to winter
Is like trying to find color
In the dead leaves on the ground

I will dance
And I will spin
Until the room blurs
And the lightless gaps
Between swaying bodies
Absorb my ache
And longing

I will twist
And I will wring
Dizzily releasing
Whatever still clings
To my depleting soul
And replace it with champagne

And I will dance

For all the men I’m ****** to love
For all the deaths I’m doomed to die
I lay in wait one crest above
The wave on which fate idles by

We suffer in silence
Still, we speak
But rare are we heard
And of that moment, we dream
Of gratification,
Validation
Of anything that will make this all
Make sense,
Anything that will make this all
Worthwhile.
We dream of that place
That will never exist
Of the place that simply
Cannot be
Our nights despondent
Still, we dream