I love you so much
I would crack open your skull
Pluck out your brain
Read your thoughts

But apparently that’s not socially
Acceptable
So I suppose I’ll settle
For holding your hand instead

We spent a night
Where the moon was looming
And yellow
Above our heads and far from our fingertips

He told me the moon
Was mine to keep
I just had to reach out
And take it

So I did

We spent a night
Where his heart was looming
And red
Beneath my head and far from my fingertips

I told him his heart
Was mine to keep
I just had to reach out
And take it

But I didn’t

I cannot read one man’s thoughts
While I can hear another’s
In the background

Because my mind
Can only grasp one human’s
Truest intentions and dreams at once

Any more leads to
Poor comprehension
And just one in itself is a blessing

Childhood taught me
To hide behind boys
With bright eyes and muddy sneakers
Whom’s laughter and
Enamored smiles
Would protect me from my feelings

Early adolescence was a time
To experience the many firsts
Actual desire
The denial inducing judgment
That always
Comes with it


The stage of time you might name ‘now’
Has been a breath of fresh air
And honesty
That no matter how differently I
Love
We are all the same

She walked on her toes
Knobby knees bumping together
Forming a tomato colored patch
On her soft pale skin

Hours I wasted
Watching that pastel flesh rise
And fall
I did not comprehend why I did

Hours I wasted
Learning for myself
To correct my stance
Tan myself to a bronze shade of ‘beauty’

While she still walked on her toes
Knobby knees bumping together
Forming a tomato colored patch
On her soft pale skin

I began to comprehend why I
Watched that pastel flesh rise
And fall
Learning that the answer was ‘wrong’

Hours I wasted
Just to have my brain bleached
Her funny stance and bruises
Forgotten

All for
The sake of
Society’s very own
Normalcy

There was a smell
Of ***** in the air

There was an eye
Brown like ***** matter

There was a thought
About someone else’s 4 PM dump

There it was in my mind
As I was kissed for the very first time

They crawl and creep
Through the streets
On skinny hands and calloused knees

Sometimes they don’t have hands
Or sit on the curb and rattle demands
From the contents of the plastic cups or cans

So we cannot hear their teeth
Under the blustery air that follows beneath
The passing wealthy folks’ feet