She wears her despair
Like a necklace.
Posts pictures of it
With a bleached sadness
In her teeth.
She smiles.
But she writes captions
About how sad it is
To be.
To "live."
That "life is a journey."
A "highway."
A "trek."
There's "always time to turn over a new leaf."
She finds power
In flitting about
Telling the world her sorrows.
She sweetens
To the sound of pity
On your lips.
Like a hummingbird
She wants you
To open your petals
So that she can take
Her tongue
To your nectar
And
Lick
And lick.
She is a pitiful thing.
She wishes
To be the bird.
The tongue.
The feather.
The petal.
The drooping stem.
The starving
Root.
The bitter dream.
the vibrant ecstasy
of a honey
tasting both bitter
and sweet,
like a nectarine
or the first hint of gasoline
before everything
is burning.