your skin and mine
come close
but we are not close anymore
and yet we are!
I cannot explain it
but we are inextricably bound.

My loneliness makes me taste like toothpaste
because over the course of my shame-polluted day,
regrets pile up like grime in my gums, and she
likes to pretend,
(hundreds of miles deep into the night),
that brushing my teeth for an extra two minutes or so
renders me finally clean, and
forgotten.

She makes me use the peppermint that stings, because
it’s easier for me to picture the rotten remains of my
ugly, fumbled words losing their sticky grip
on the insides of my cheeks,
dissolving in fizzles and bubbles and fire as if in
flavored acid.

My loneliness tastes like hair and
skin pulled taut over bent knees
because she imagines that her set of
tired, unwanted bones fit together
like an awkward origami cocoon enclosing,
(shrinking)
my repulsive, obtrusive body.

And she folds around me
despite the sharp, stabbing aches
in my curved spine and knotted appendages
because we have learned that her skeleton
is the only thing that will protect
me.

The clouds have covered the sky
and the cool breeze is blowing;
That green forest has soaked
in the monsoon rain again.

The bride of the distant clouds
loves the green jungle;
The chirping birds have washed
in the monsoon rain again.

For the tears and the laughter of clouds
The farmers are feeling happy;
The sunny day has lost
in the monsoon rain again.

After hearing the roar of the clouds
The fish are chasing each other;
Lakes and ponds have filled with water
of the monsoon rain again.

It's raining and the herons
are still catching little fish;
All the marshes are playing
with the monsoon rain again.

another day
I swallow my tears
all I want to do is scream

set me free
what must I do
to erase all my mistakes
I don't want to remember all my regrets

what must I do
I want to start over
every time I lie
I can feel the truth behind me