sometimes they all surprise you when
you've think you've got the world all figured out.
the way they bring you paintings,
tributes, jewellery.
the way sometimes you catch them crying
in the middle of the night into your earrings.
the way the tears are just as much your own.
the way you never really know someone
until it all is truly bared,
spread thinly,
kissed off.
the way we only sleep when the alarm
is going off.
the way somedays you feel so empty it aches
and then you are rekindled.
just in a kick of the heels.
In a way, we all have matching feathers,
a whole trail of them,
cast loose from a broken wing.
sparks flying everywhere.
sometimes I am soft and other times i'm
high and naughty.
I hide behind bright lipstick
the flames I run my hands through
are always blue.
all these tiny birds,
cast free
like gunshots.