You
       are
every missed
con    nec    tion,
every
pause
I didn't know
how to fill,
every ship I
sent out that
never reached
its designated
shore. I never
really had you.

I have
m
     e
          l
                    t
                            e
                                 d
into the simple
idea of you
falling asleep
next to me
again someday.

A catfish laughs.
It thinks of other catfishes
In other ponds.

don't kiss me in the morning
with coffee on your breath

don't rest your shower drenched
head on my thighs in the middle of the day

don't run my ***** hair through your fingers
at a quarter to two in the morning
and tell me that i'll be okay

don't light my cigarettes
             don't drive my car
                             don't use my cellphone
don't read my poetry
                        don't sing to me
                                             don't laugh with me
           don't tell me about your mother
or your father or your sister or your brother

              and don't you dare cry
                            don't cry under the stars
                                or on the stairwell
don't cry in my bed
            or on the roof of your favorite building
                         don't cry because you're happy
don't cry because you're scared
                   don't cry because you're sad or sick or confused
             please don't ever ******* cry

*because i can't fall in love again
it's such an ugly mess in the end

Always I am
waiting
waiting
waiting
for the right time
to tell you all the
words I have stored
behind my teeth
and in the pockets
of all my sweaters.
It's just that I'm so
sure the sun speaks
out of your mouth,
that you will be the
only person who will
swallow my sentences
immediately after I've
said them so they
don't have time to
float away into
outer space where
Pluto and all of my
other lost loves are
orbiting. My
greatest fear is that
you'll stop holding
me like my hands
are made of the
Milky Way and
instead like the
love I'm capable of
giving you is simply
measured with the
spoon I use to stir
my peppermint tea.
I have stumbled
tripped
tumbled
into the atmosphere
of your smile, been
dragged under by the
waves of your breath
on my neck in the
earliest hours of
the morning. I ask
only that you keep
loving my arms that
aren't strong, keep
watching me like I
taught the sky how
to make rain
(because I'll never
stop watching you
that way.)

Your name is the loveliest word
I've ever said. In my life
I've never known someone like you.
Your aura is a quilt
that I could spend all day in
if you'd let me.
I think the chances of me meeting
another you are absurd
and I find the whole idea
to be terrifying.
I could make so much room
for you in my heart.