Disconnected by the root, wasting our time between sheets instead of between conversations You kept yourself in backwards hats and vague excuses to the questions I was asking. I lit myself on fire, extinguished the flame in the shower after we finished, cursing at the droplets sliding down the curtain. ***** this! and ***** that after you ******* me into the enjambment that was your free space— your convenience. I fit only if you push, I matter only if it’s after midnight and the world outside your door and bed frame doesn’t have to know. In the daylight, I’m a ghost that you always see. I’m the ruby spotted from the corner of your eyes, the shine that hurts to look at, but no one can know. Of course. No one can know the way your mouth rests between sighs or how your eyes lock into mine when your bruising the inside of my thighs.
I’m the extra beer in your back pocket. I’m the ***** in the towel who’s promising her better self that she won’t go again, that she won’t allow herself to try to patch the promise from too long ago. The relationship, shattered early, that mended itself crooked, that became a book thrown at the wall and a sweet, dissipated call. I’m the secret solemnly kept at night when you’re drunk and ugly and begging for some beauty to curl up next to. I’m the last line in the best country song, the whisper you scream for when I’m gone.