i am a wilted rose.
once beautiful and blossoming,
life was fragrant.
worn by the days past,
my petals float away.

these eyes have seen more
4 am’s than taxi drivers
have seen street signs…
insomnia is my drug and
i’m far too high,
delirious and slightly delusional
go hand and hand
like melatonin and zolpidem.
i’m addicted to
tossing and turning and
blaming all my problems
on lack of sleep

I lost the keys
to the world I knew
and I felt scared because
I could never return
but then I took comfort
simply in knowing
someone else had found them
and they felt home again.

in circles we go
like clockwork
i fall for you
but you’re so far above me
so i move on
you wait for me
to fall again
and i always do,
expecting you to catch me
but you leave
and wait
for me to catch up again
like clockwork
we go in circles

always wanting
never needing
always hoping
never sleeping
always dreaming
never winning
always wondering
never knowing

my name is melody
and i’d like to be stuck in your head
like a tune you’ve heard
and don’t want to forget

do you know
you left bruises
in your wake?
not just on my skin
but on my heart as well.
placing my fingers over
the purple-blue marks,
i press down
to relive how it felt
to have your hands on me
holding me so tight.
it’s not the same
because bruises fade away
long before
the feelings do.

subconsciously you’re always there, bleeding into my words
like you’re entitled to those as well… it’s as if the grip on my heart
was not enough for you,
so you grasped onto my brain
and made my thoughts your own.

your insecurities have
made you careless,
wreckless even.
you’re searching
for something
that’ll make you feel
better about yourself
but what you have found
has actually made you
lose yourself
I don’t see
what i saw in you anymore
because it’s lost
so i think i must go as well
because i can’t stay and watch
while you continue to disappear

fiery hot flames
ascending up my body undesirably
until they reach my face
and burning;
they give me away

the truth lies within
the lies you tell
your eyes do not
match your words
i see ice
through your fire
and i know, my dear
that underneath
that calm exterior
is a scared child
spinning webs
and hoping for the best
you’re in too deep
but i know, my dear
i know

every person is a tree,
a community the forest.
striving to grow,
but trying to hold on to their roots.

i wish the rain would wash me away
to a place unknown
and drown my sorrows like the sidewalks
into the drains i would go
watering down the lines of reality
until the sun came out again
there’d be nothing of me remaining
only the memory of water

if karma’s a ***** then love must be a ******* *****.

my mum told me
not to give advice if i
couldn’t take it myself.
she didn’t get the irony.

let’s fall in love in this lonesome city
i know you’re afraid of heights
but i’ll hold your hand all the way to the top
let’s fall in love down by the ocean
i’m afraid of being under water
so hold my hand all the way to the bottom

my freckles fall in constellations
like stars sprinkled across my face
they dot every inch of my skin
like marks on a map
trace them tenderly
from my arms to my tummy
making patterns i can feel
your final destination will be my heart

I felt my heart flutter around in my chest like a bird in a cage that has just learned it could fly

The words don’t flow as freely from me these days.
I stare out the opened window, the sun burns my eyes, and I wonder if Seattle and I are suffering from the same drought.

when i see you
i see trees
because of all the paper
you’ve caused to be wasted
when i hear your voice
i hear the scratching of a pen
and i think of all the ink
that’s been spilled in your honor
when i think of you
i think of a ******* bin
full of notebooks
with all the poems
you’ll never read
about the first time i saw you
and i tried to capture your face on paper
about the first time i heard your voice
and i wasted ink trying to describe it
about how i think of you
and i still fill up notebooks
with poems you’ll never read.

pulling apart this forget-me-not
petal by petal i say
“he loves me, he loves me not”
on the last petal i ask,
“does he love me?” he does not.

my throat swells like the ocean
tides of tears and salty sea spray
with the pressure of waves
my eyes well until filled to the brink
they leak streams of sadness
cascading down my face

i live my life in a glass case
only remembering when people get close enough to see
the cracks they inadvertently make while trying to get to know me
the glue isn’t holding together like i’d hoped…
it’s going to break soon - my protective wall
what use to save me now might hurt me,
lying shattered at my feet
they always saw through me anyways.

i like to eat my thoughts
filling my stomach so it’s full with words
until it talks and says the stuff i will not
sugar coating my feelings to make them easy to digest
but the sweetness goes away leaving a bad taste and regret

life threw me lemons
and i took them appreciatively
with good intentions
i saved them and kept them fresh
but when it came time to make lemonade
i found my pitcher cracked
my sugar had all been given away
and everyone was craving apple juice

drink it down
another laced crown
woven around your head
eyelids heavy as lead
body feather light
floating above the night
things are blurring
words are slurring
little dress alluring
no regrets
at least not yet
fading in and out
lip gloss pout
inhibitions like heels; long gone
partying until dawn

roses are red
violets are blue
do i really have to
write a poem for you
to realize that
i want to *******

spilled ink
soaks in
slowly and carelessly
stained color
stay inspired

insert clever metaphor
and then shake your head
put it in a book
placed beside your bed
proceed to forget
when a better one comes instead

i always shy away from human contact
wondering why my skin is sensitive to the touch
but then i remember what is easily stolen is not so easily replaced
and for my mind and body that thought is too much

i would compare love to paper cuts
as it always seems to be the little things that hurt the most