I have become
Bleak

Caffeine
Nicotine
Alcohol
THC,
Weak.

Shriveled up when I felt too much
Like some cowardly, lowly mollusk,
But vines

Vines rustle as they reach
The length of your spine

That stealthy girl
I bet she's still alive

Lou
Lou had brown skin like crumpled newspaper and a voice like muddy gravel
His skin and his life hung loosely from his skeleton
Having developed fat
Having developed a slight limp

We prayed for utter salvation from the confines of a two-man cell,
But I dropped myself off

Now I could reach down my throat
And my heart would slip around this mess of blood and guts.

It might take me an hour to find it
What's next,
My brain?

In my shell

Somewhere far away
You're a fire dancing in the rain
The very same one that sang my body, too
And I just draw up what I'd do
If I could--
To try and love *you.