You know you’ll never finish a marathon just by running your mouth
Today we have ambitions like birthday candles once a year, a glimmer of hope, a spark of life when we shout to the stars our resolutions that will save us from this pollution of lies until— the wax melts and morphs into the frosting we eat it all the same, we are none the wiser, but I’m tired of eating cake that tastes like ****
******* is becoming our best man and maid of honor the only thing tying the rings around the fingers of our college lovers and praying that this promise, for once, won’t be broken like our hearts in high school like our bones in middle school like our crayons in pre-school
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words taught me a new kind of pain words were the threads that I weaved into my childhood quilts— every “goodnight,” every “sleep tight,” every “I love you”
so when those threads were unraveled by the claws of divorce and I was tangled in a tattered quilt of promises I forgot how to sleep at night
I tried stealing words from sweet boys with gold eyes just to patch up my quilt yet every thread of their tongue disintegrated to dust
But real strength cannot be found words "goodnight" means nothing until I begin to dream "sleep tight" is empty until I am enveloped in silky seams "I love you" is a check that has not been cashed until your lips meet my forehead and you close the door gently behind you because you don’t want to wake me
We’ll never win marathons just by running our mouths we have to pick up our feet stretch out our toes and move.