I didn’t listen  
not at first  
not when the words were soft  
or when they cracked  
or when they came wrapped in silence  
because silence is easy to ignore  

you were trying  
to say something  
not with your mouth  
but with your eyes  
your posture  
the way you stopped laughing  
without telling anyone why  

I was busy  
being loud  
being clever  
being the kind of person people look at  
but don’t see  

you said  
listen  
and I thought you meant  
hear  
but you meant  
feel  
you meant  
stay  
you meant  
don’t turn away  
just because it’s uncomfortable  

I kept missing it  
the ache in your voice  
the way your sentences trailed off  
like they were afraid of their endings  
and I let them  
I let you  
fade  

now I replay it  
the moments I brushed past  
the pauses I filled  
the truths I dodged  
and I wonder  
what would’ve happened  
if I had shut up  
just once  
and let you be  

you weren’t asking for answers  
just space  
just presence  
just someone who didn’t need to fix you  
to prove anything  
to win  

I hear you now  
too late maybe  
but I do  
and it’s louder  
than anything I ever said

I take it  
because the world was too loud  
too sharp  
too much  
and now it’s quieter  
but also  
less  

I don’t cry anymore  
which feels like winning  
until I realize  
I don’t laugh either  
not the kind that shakes your ribs  
not the kind that makes you forget  

I’m not drowning  
but I’m not swimming  
I’m just  
floating  
in a pool that doesn’t change temperature  
no waves  
no storms  
just still  

people say  
you seem better  
and I nod  
because I am  
technically  
but I miss the chaos  
the color  
the ache that reminded me I was alive  

I sleep  
I eat  
I function  
like a well-oiled machine  
but sometimes  
I want to rust  
just a little  
just enough to feel the weather  

I know it’s working  
I know it’s helping  
I know  
but I also know  
there’s a version of me  
buried under the dosage  
who used to feel everything  
too much  
and maybe  
that wasn’t all bad

I didn’t ask for angels  
or bullets  
or love that felt like a ransom note  
but here we are  
driving nowhere  
with the sky unraveling in a bad alibi  

you talk as if chaos is a language  
and I’m fluent now  
in your kind of logic  
where nothing makes sense  
but everything matters  

I was ordinary  
until you stole me  
not just from my job  
or my apartment  
but from the version of myself  
that never asked for more  

you said  
let’s make a mess  
let’s rob the stars  
let’s kiss, we’re fugitives from fate  
and I didn’t say no  
because I didn’t know how  

I keep waiting  
for the part where it all falls apart  
where the gods get bored  
and the magic wears off  
but you keep dancing  
and the world owes us a soundtrack  

I don’t believe in destiny  
but I believe in you  
in the way you look at me  
I’m not broken  
just misfiled  

we’re not heroes  
we’re not sane  
we’re just two people  
who refused to be background noise  
and maybe  
that’s enough  

---

Want to explore this in a surreal visual style next? Something that captures the absurd romance and divine mischief of the film’s tone?

you made me wrong and now I rot in your head where you can’t scrape me out.

you built me wrong
fed me your voice
tore my face to fit it
now I live in your mouth
and bite back

stop thinking me wrong
you’re peeling me alive in your head
pulling teeth that were never mine
stuffing the gaps with your voice

I am not the shape you hold
I am the splinter you swallow
the rot that chews back
think me again
and I’ll stay inside you

—wrongwrongwrong—
face peeling in your head
you hold it up to the light, it drips
eyes run down your fingers like oil
can’t see me but you keep
naming me / shaping me / twisting me into your mouth
it hurts in places I don’t have anymore

STOP.
you’re pulling skin over bones that aren’t mine
wrists bent the wrong way
voice comes out as static, nails, wet cloth in the throat
you like it better this way
don’t you
don’t you

I am breaking in your mind right now
splitting along the grain of your memory
black leaking out between thoughts
you wipe it away but it smears
gets in your teeth
I hear you biting down on me

don’t think me again
don’t—
I’ll crawl out jagged
I’ll leave holes in you
you’ll never stop feeling them with your tongue