The sun said:
I will vanquish gods for you.
I will conquer stars for you.
I will devour worlds for you.

And the moon replied:
You don't need to do any of that.
All you need to do is survive;
that is enough for me.

these flowers
were not grown with love
I fed them with blood
and now they hang from the ceiling,
glistening red with dew.

the glass is scuffed.
there was a bear here, last night.
she tried to break in
but I shot her,
and she unraveled

into millions of pieces
of colourful silk.
someone created this beast.
someone gave her a name.
and I ended her life.

sleeping
on the bank of a foreign river
under a blanket of snow
you approach me
singing
a folk song
that I taught to myself
for comfort.
you reach out
with your scarred hand
to pull off my cloak
and there are human eyes behind it.
you tell me
I am no longer a monster.
you tell me
everything will work out.

The rain battered branches
thrash and shudder
in the dim light of one window.

One person,
still awake,
deep into the stormy night.

Listening to
the howling coyotes-
they were not here last year.

They howl for the desert winds
that they miss so much,
but only the thunder responds.

A low, resonant growl.
I am tired too.

I wish to walk
on threaded moonbeams
through dreams
on velvet silent paws

not worrying about
the heaviness inside
and whether or not
the universe will hold me up

to look down
at the turning world below
and not have to ask
if I am safe here.

Bittersweet nightshade drips from your lips
I want to be coated in your poison spit.
My dead skin is datura white,
two mad dreamers dancing through the night.
I can feel your trembling claws
swaying with the foxglove’s paws.
Cut me open and I’ll bleed sap,
strength of the yew fighting back.

The mask is beautiful,
ivory, with golden filigree
and studded with crimson rubies.
But the eyes behind it are empty,
dull and lifeless.

I have been living a lie.
Split in half by the she-wolf's fangs
the husk shambles on
while I lie dying
among the fallen leaves.

While I lie dreaming
among the drifting snow,
it turns to rain and flower petals.
Wishing to never wake up,
wishing that this is all there is.