like a poisonous flower
you could never tell
that the brightness without
did darkness dwell

i'll temporarily make my home in your bed
i'll live inside your head

until we're both dead

and like the ocean tides
that drift lazily away,
i look upon his face;
he makes sunny all my days,

and like a flower in the wind
with petals dancing on the breeze,
everything is him,
and through him i can be me.

i'm tongue tied and pretty out of it
i wish i could care even a little bit
my heart feels like northern nunavut
it's like frozen for the fun of it

A little girl holds her marbles in the bottom of her shirt
The boys play for keeps, and they cheat
She grasps the cool glass to her warm chest through the fabric
As if her integrity is fragile,
Like she was ashamed that she wanted to cheat when her marbles were taken away
The teacher asks why she holds herself like this
Tells her that the boys can see her stomach
As if something will be stolen before her body is full grown
Her belly button has never seen so much sunlight- or so many eyes
The glass breaks on the pavement as she covers herself
And if dignity were a porcelain doll, she’d be broken, too.

I call my mother after dance class so she can tell me not to waste my time on frivolous motion
I tell her I am reinventing a body
That boys stole parts before they were full grown
That if I learn to bend in new ways, I won’t break when they play for keeps and the eyes are on the outside
The broken marbles at recess make new people.

starlight dimensions
shine brilliantly tonight
but they're not alright