I didn’t mind the incongruence of our hearts
as we melted together like sticky-sweet ice cream
on a nostalgic summer day, and I wore your
fingerprints on my collarbone like a proud
working man’s necktie as our molecules collided
between our bodies in a miniature mosaic we
couldn’t see – but we could feel

Our bloodstreams were helium and our
organs were neatly-knotted balloon animals
and trumpets pounded behind our eardrums
as we tried to stay afloat in our makeshift raft
in the turbulence of Maybes and What Ifs
but you choked on reality as I tried to
breathe you a sonnet

And the piano burdened our lungs as
I tried to free the confusion from your eyes
but they hid in your lashes and fluttered
against the tip of my nose and invited a
cathartic sneeze, and I felt like a jagged
paper cut-out but you were smooth lines
and symmetry

I don’t know when the yelling started or
when it ceased but the red stains on my face
were the only recollection I needed and
I packed my things in an origami suitcase
and treaded down the spiral stairs and exited
from the top story on wilted-flower wings

Your hands were paintbrushes birthing art
upon my hide, creating new landscapes over
the tired contours of my barren canvas-skin
And before the air-whispers could begin to
dry the paint, we smeared it between our
bodies in a mess of colors sticky enough to
glue our hearts together

The colors stuck to our bellies and spattered our
faces in a brilliant deaf cacophony – and we nailed
ourselves to a cheap craft store frame that we
believed could marry us forever
But as soon as we hung ourselves on the
gallery wall, the claustrophobia of the frame
constricted our smiling exhibit-faces and our
painted toes yearned to touch the ground

I caught your bitter tears in the palms of my
hands and dissolved the paint between us
in a faded erasure of the art that declared us
One. We escaped the confines of the cheap,
unstable frame and I said my goodbyes without
catching your eyes

And we still wear discolored marks of
our once-was-masterpiece like nostalgic scars
that have stained our bones with once-happy
hues and pigments of regret

You moved in like an exotic species
with high heel roots that just couldn’t
take to the concrete soil and
everything felt foreign as your
fingers dragged against buildings’
windows in a curlicue SOS

You were a misplaced piece in the
wrong puzzle box yet you still tried
to make your corners fit amongst
the scenery. You drifted from street to street
like an extra in a movie trying to find
your own spotlight

Your construction-paper elbows rested
on your bruised knees as the dusty
wind married your stray hairs to your
chapsticked lips – and beneath your
feet was a child’s chalk drawing with the word
“believe”

The pastel pinks and blues and smiling
stick caricatures were captured by
your wide eyes that dripped their
appreciation in two slow lines

The picture burned itself in your mind
and tugged your lips upwards as you
decided you wanted to thrive, to
truly feel alive, and to build
your own puzzle around your sides

the dirt’s turned up, the body’s gone
and the makeshift cross is snapped in two
maybe you should’ve dug the hole a bit deeper
maybe you should’ve made it work

now everything is plastic-wrapped and vacuum-sealed
and all you can smell is germ-x and cheap soap
but it’s better than her perfume
you burned her clothes and lingerie in your backyard
along with her favorite books you didn’t read
— she never asked for anything to be returned

you forgot about her for a while
the words of her eulogy gave you closure
“it’s over”
entwined with clichés and *******
that fertilized your daffodils —
the flowers of new beginnings

but then you saw her corpse
reanimated with Another on her arm
and the laughter that plays in your head
when you can’t sleep at night
spilled from her undead lips

her memory flooded your mind
and gnawed your brain
as you returned to her upturned grave
delirious in a sleepwalk daze
plucking petals from a daffodil

You're droopin' now like a sad balloon
cast down from Heaven
Your tail's dragging on the ground
- the one you escaped so long before -
and now you're down, down, down

You remember floatin' in the sky
watchin' little people as they all walked by
busy with themselves and their teeny-tiny lives
Now they're bigger than you and you don't know why
you can't fly, fly, fly

The wrinkles in your face are deep
As you sag closer to the ground
You're sure it's the end and say your prayers to
the Helium Gods and the party favor stores
when a li'l pigtailed girl picks you up and yells,
"Look what I found, found, found!"

And then you know it ain't how high ya float
that really matters in your life
Despite your droopin' and saggin' you don't
got no naggin' 'cause this kid's gonna love you
'til you die, die, die

*pop

I stitched a quilt from the parachute
I wore when I fell for you
It exploded from my backpack
like my heart

I remember our first conversation
and your nervous giggling
I couldn't quite meet your eyes
but you smiled anyway

You became my best friend
I talked to you everyday
We flew kites, fed ducks, and
ate ice cream - your favorite,
cookie dough

I taught you chords on my guitar
and memorized your hands
The crescent scar on your left wrist
matched the star-freckles
down your arm

And when I tried to catch your lips
you turned your cheek to me
Then, before I knew it,
you began to float away

Now I'm curled up in my blanket
eating cookie dough ice cream
looking at the crescent moon
and wondering how you're doing
without me

We said not to wear
them inside, but now what I'd
give to hear their sound