the hollow between her neck and shoulders,
deep like holy water stoup,
has always been sacred to me.

i was sixteen then, foolish and in love.

i wrote her name on every piece of paper
i could find and kept her in my pocket,
showed her what the world looked like in my eyes.

she had something in her, that girl.
perhaps a cross between a crazed butcher and a catholic school kid.
with her you can never tell.

for a brief moment she let me know what heaven tastes like--
she kissed me by the pool and i lost my head.

        time flew like manic Icarus.
     suddenly, as abrupt as somebody braking hard, it was all over.

four years later and i'm still looking for my sanity.

after her
every mouth i kiss
just tastes like chlorine.

save more money
by not throwing so much ****
into wishing wells for something
that you already know will never happen.

These moments - cold,
in the bathroom,
naked except for the blister plasters
and the indent across my ribs
from the new bra.

Before the eyeliner is scrubbed away.
Before I’m back to that flushed girl
with big dreams.

These moments - fresher
than the rest.

And in the end, always,
I’m churning everything inside me,
making pretty songs. But especially moments
like this.

Moments with clothes curled
on the tiles, with blue clarity,
the moments wondering if it matters
that my **** are lopsided.

Always poetry.

There are boys swimming in my head,
boys I once knew,
boys I might know,
girls I want to find. All
poetry.

Suds down the drain. Sponge on skin.
Every moment in every bathroom -
every grimy, cold bathroom,
stacks of them, in my head.

Holy baths and sloppy showers,
moments for renewal,
moments of ***** thoughts.
Underwear kicked off, inside out,
door locked so only
this moment
exists - here - in front
of the mirror, the same crooked
grimace, the same curious brows.

Moments of steam and condensation,
bed socks twisted together.
Cold weight of wet hair, always
the same cycle. Water
rolling down my back.

I am my own ******, in all these moments.

all your flowered dresses
thrown across the floor;
my bedroom--
our secret garden.

when the church bell rings i hear sirens;
when i open my mouth for the holy communion
i fear that the things i am struggling to keep
are going to spill.