Let me tell you
there are things you'll want to do
before you die.

Kiss
every family member
even those you wish
eight feet under.

Tell that family
that you love them.

Tell them not to mourn our death,
to celebrate it.

Make your great nieces and nephews
promise to be good,
even though you know
they'll break that promise,
sooner or later.

Look through those family photo albums
that make you remissness
while you drink wine straight from the bottle.

Take a trip
to those places
you dreamt about,
the ones  you talked about to your spouse
for hours on end afterwards
because they'd felt so real.

Straighten out you will
and leave that obnoxious relative
your ****** sweaters and cheap trinkets.

Take another walk on the cliffs
where you lost your virginity
and had your heart broken,
yell your frustrations into the wind.

Spend the nights
in the arms of the one you love,
every time its better,
impossibly so.

And now that you've done all
the meaningful things,
the things you wont regret doing;
die happy.

I.
Heatwaves rise,
from the grey ashes that used to be your home.
Wind blows,
a sorrowful song through the trees.
Failing to dissolve the thick black smoke.
Embers burn,
royal red and gold
and sparks fly into the night after a stray beam falls,
crumbles,
as it lands on your singed teddy bear.
The only thing left.
You were almost three.

II.
Little laughing child
you were so sweet in life.
Your fawn colored eyes were always dancing,
your round plush cheeks always rosy,
your tiny doll's feet always running,
your chubby dimpled hands always reaching,
your frizzy chocolate hair always bouncing,
your tiny rosebud mouth always smiling, laughing,
flashing small pearl teeth in your miniature pink mouth.
I will always remember your smile.

III.
Oh honey child!
You didnt get to see much of life.
You never got to shop with friends,
or drive a car,
or go on your first real date.
But you did get to make those friends
you'd eventually have gone shopping with.
You got to run, eat ice cream, throw tantrums,
and love the people you came in contact with.
You got to make your mom and dad smile.
You lit their world like no light could.
And even though you've gone and your papa's gone with you,
your mom and your friends, those closest to your heart,
will always remember you.

Lets ruin ourselves.*
She'd whisper,
a silken silver siren's song.
I just couldn't resist.
My Di, Dian, Dianna.
She was perfect
In all her savage sateen beauty,
even though she didn't think so.
Her pale chalky skin
stretched over her sharp bones
and her grey-blue eyes
always hidden by her curtain
of inky black hair.
I remember when we would have contests
to see who could overdose first.
A bowl full of little colored pills
was all we ever needed.
And one night
After our potpourri party,
we lay on her bed
In the bliss of oblivion,
Overdose heaven.
Dawn came,
too soon for either of us.
I woke, numbly, but she never did.
And I looked at her, but I didn't cry.
She was my everything
my nothing,
but this was the life we'd chosen
and this was just another night in the ruins.

I am weightless,
Zero gravity.
My ears pop,
No chewing gum.
Synthetic leather squeaks
Under the pressure of my little hands,
Take off.
The city shrinks outside my window.
Lights like stars blink on the ground.
Generic food smells mix
With the feather soft voices
Of flight attendants.
We're almost first class.

The family sits around the table,
freeze-frame their laughing faces.
Everyone is thankful for something.
The eldest daughter, Marie
is thankful for not having any bruises to hide,
this time.
Her mother, Anne,
is thankful that her husband hasnt found out,
about the seven men she's been sleeping with.
Her husband, Marcus,
is thankful for the gun he bought yesterday
to take care of the men his wife thinks he doesnt know about.
His son, Jason,
is thankful that his 'good Christian' parents
dont know that he finds men attractive.
And his little sister, Katie,
is thankful for her happy family
and that no one can see the cuts she's made
on her legs.

I promised I'd never forget you
It'd be impossible if I tried.
You were my third love.
You will always be the tall thin boy
with silky curls the color of sunset,
eyes of liquid atmosphere,
and crushed coral lips
you'd only kiss me with
when we were shrouded
in the saftey of my blankets.
In the night you taught me to love.

Sleeping Beauty never slept
she waited for those men.
High up in her dusky tower
she would sit for years on end.
Cigarette butts littered the floor
around her curtained bed,
and as always a Prince Charming would come,
find her sleeping, dead,
her lips painted red.
Seduction and abduction
no one saw them again.