She puckers her lips like they sting
from kissing strangers with cuts,
smoke melting out of her pouty-mouthed O’s
the window it escaped from
either cherry at the cheeks
or consuming the air
until it soured
like a bad storm of slate
clouding almost everything,
in hindsight,
before ground coffee black and hazy brake lights type rain  
once my eyes turned into a two-sided mirror,
and I became a new element,
and as much as I wish I could have been quartz,
as much as I wish it was beautiful,

-

It’s been thirty-six hours since I’ve slept,
the little black specks that decorate my life
blue lighting up my face
that is otherwise a broken bulb
at 200 kilowatts  
reminding me that I haven’t learned a **** thing
from laying here for five hours
but I haven’t learned a **** thing
from letting my blood pulse in my ears
and fishing for a breath
either.