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 Oct 2013 Nathaniel Choma
brooke
i want you to
take photos of
of me as i shift
unexpectedly
i want to know
what I look like
when I see you.
(c) Brooke Otto

this deserves back-story. No one has ever bothered to take pictures of me while I was unaware and this makes me sad.
It's never quite right, he said, the way people look,
the way the music sounds, the way the words are
written.
It's never quite right, he said, all the things we are
taught, all the loves we chase, all the deaths we
die, all the lives we live,
they are never quite right,
they are hardly close to right,
these lives we live
one after the other,
piled there as history,
the waste of the species,
the crushing of the light and the way,
it's not quite right,
it's hardly right at all
he said.

don't I know it? I
answered.

I walked away from the mirror.
it was morning, it was afternoon, it was
night

nothing changed
it was locked in place.
something flashed, something broke, something
remained.

I walked down the stairway and
into it.
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
 Jun 2013 Nathaniel Choma
Annie
carve my body into
your wooden canoe
sail me
like a makeshift craft
into the center of
the storm
i want to chip and fall apart
to the crack of thunder
and your syrupy voice
peeling apart
my insides

tell me something I don't already know
like what is inside
the thousands of books
archived and lost
in the libraries
of your head

gut my organs
with your sharp
unforgiving words
like no matter how much
**** i smother onto my face
I will never be pretty
enough
No matter how much I
starve and throw up
I will never be good enough
and how my writing is too
mediocre.

and when I finally decide
that enough is enough
i'll realize it's never enough
it's never enough for you
taking portions of
my sanity
until there is insanity
holding my hand
with your acid
fingerprints
ghost recollections
of 1 year ago when
instead of you
it was him
and it was ok.

And instead of you it's me
it's always been me
devilish chants
over and over
trudging through thick
hot tar to arrive at
the finish line
but you
I
have bounded my ankles
to the start

I can never forgive you
(me)
for that.
 Jun 2013 Nathaniel Choma
Annie
MTV
 Jun 2013 Nathaniel Choma
Annie
MTV
there are bullets zipping
past
inside
into my head
i wish there was
a bullet
blowing up my
head
i can not think straight
because
i misplaced my ruler
and my depth perception
is now all ****** up too
because i can not measure
without my ruler
and my legs
are bricks
and i am trying to chip
them apart
but i keep tearing
apart my fingernails
the brick is too
wicked for
soft hands
and desperate intentions
my intestines are empty
with all the food
i did not eat
i wish i ate
but its too late now
and the *******
remote is missing
its probably with the ruler
i can't change the channel
and its stuck
on some stupid
mtv show,
why doesn't "music television"
play music
anymore
 Jun 2013 Nathaniel Choma
Annie
My worst regret:
I forgot to tell you while your heart
was still kicking that 
I love you
I love you
the last time I saw you,
was march 23, 2008.
(happy birthday)
but you took your yellow bumblebee
coat, caked in ash and cigarette smoke
and you sat in your garage
loaded pistol in the back in case the asphyxiation
was not enough
let me tell you, the exhaust
was more than enough
it spread like wildfire
into my lungs.

13 years old
is a bit young
I blew out the candles
and you blew
out your brains.

I wonder what would have happened
if I told you that
I love you
instead of watching you go
I think we all wonder from time to time.
I miss you, ty.
Staring out the window, lying in the dark
Wistfully wishing for moon and stars
But blinded by a streetlight
Blotting out the beauty of a sky at night
As surely as the world seperates you and I

Pressing my face to the glass
I cannot see them, though surely I can feel them
Toying with my mind at the edge of my perception,
Like your hands wrapped 'round my heart
-shining in the distance

The stars will shine again one day,
But I wonder if I'll ever know your face
Or will it remain forever out of reach
-just sparkling light on midnight canvas

Such bittersweet thoughts twist my mood
So I fall asleep to dream of you
-and streetlights turn to stars and moon
Something about this feels... off. Ideas?
 Jun 2013 Nathaniel Choma
brooke
I'm still waiting
to turn that proverbial
corner and see you
(c) Brooke Otto
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