catch me on fire
set me ablaze as fast as you can
put the coals under my feet
so that my heart burns brightly
a target for you to pierce

don't miss

wondrous heat you glaze me over
burning the chills off of me like demon wrath
apologies to my skin

non-existent, they're ashes

catch me on fire
with the hot burning intensity
of your rage

*because you say i deserve it

All that is left
is an echoing in a vacant chest.
The silence of someone holding back.
A glowing, golden room
and softly strung strings
are not enough.
Your pretty words
and perfect apologies
are not enough.
A deserted, emptied bottle
once filled with stale fruit
waits on the counter.
You laugh at how it resembles our spirits.
I sit and smile
while the wax weeps in the corner.
My smile is fake.
So I run.

The further we walked
the thicker the blonde grass grew.
Soon it was grabbing
at our legs.

We couldn’t carry on
a conversation anymore.
The surrounding landscape
swallowed any desire.  

“A huge human head, ahead.”

We approached a foothill
with the curve of a scalp
and a roaring view of a nectarine
sliding down behind the horizon.

We followed a drifting trail
overlooking the dam.
Dusk had turned the water
into pineapple juice.

A metal gate sprouting
from the ground
interrupted our silence.
“This might be too tall.”

I tried to climb
despite my fear of heights.
I wedged a foot between the bars
and reached as high as I could.

My strength broke.
It was too tall.

Suddenly it’s broken.
My beloved
lies below my hands.
Aquamarine, amethyst and citrine.
My stones
now unstrung.
You were my ‘promise ring’
my ‘engagement jewelry’.
You gave it to me
and I promised to return to you
Santorini.

Then it shifts:
I am pleading
in your aquamarine waters.
“Forgive me”
Pleading to your citrine hills.
“I promise”
Pleading, pleading
while your amethyst moon watches,
because it is always watching.

I look up through burning gleams
at an opened window.
The rippling curtains
wave to me,
begging my attention.

I hear stifled screams.

A woman closes the window.
The hazy curtains stand still and
separated.
The woman stands still and
separated.

A man passes
in and out of the newly paned frame
And then a child.
And then a fist.

So much like a cigarette.
In and out.
Carriage between two lips.
A hand.
Two lips.
A hand.
A sticking smell.
Hanging ashes after
leaving itself behind.

There you are again,
you old, reincarnated love.
Showing up in new faces
and handing me a token
of your affliction:
your half-empty glass,
a leaf ripped from its limb,
your one-way ticket to a place
I won’t be.

Here we are again,
walking down the street
under wet trees and lit balconies
as if we’re falling in love.  
You try to convince me you’ll
stay this time,
but I see the itch in your skin
to leave as soon as you realize
I recognize you.

And I do.
You’re a fiery first-kiss.
A five-day affair. Maybe this time six.
A reality check.

Light beams and a car horn
shake me awake.
A squeeze around the waist
indicates you’re still lying
beside me in bed.
I preemptively wince in pain.
Any minute now.

You pass through that door
like anyone would,
but I know what your
“See you soon,” means.