intoxicates hearts
drowns them in bitterness
fills minds and
tricks them into thinking
that drunkenness
is forgetting

but the soul,
it is the soul that is
often left, it never forgives
unless it forgets.

you showed me love
for thirty days
i gave you
my heart in eight

these numbers
don't actually mean anything

but with you gone
it's all i have
worth remembering.

what do the stars
have to do with our love?

do the stars know
how our hearts beat?
do the stars
lose their senses
in a simple touch?
a stolen glance?
a faint whisper?

when they align
they will never be
as beautiful as the
invisible outlines
i’ve made on your skin

i love you
and an infinite number
of celestial bodies
can never compare.

seeing love rise and fall
from a seedling to a tree,
until the last branch left
on a dying trunk, has to
withstand storms and rains
but it never turns green

sometimes water isn’t enough
for trees to grow.

three words
to soften hardened shells

three words
to break through high walls

three words
to ask wandering souls,
forgoing shyness
to see eyes
swelled up in emotion
waiting for the time
to just let go

*are you okay?

i flip our book
over and over
looking for answers
and for lines i may have missed

some words i've highlighted
some i read in smaller font
some italicized, a ring of importance
in an otherwise simple word

faster and faster
i flip the pages
no answer
nothing

no plot
just words
incoherent, meant
for our minds to bend
we have to start writing.

in my own movie
i will always be
the supporting actress

i’ll be the one who helps
the main character
through everything

not stopping at
plot twists and turns
not giving up on the ******
knowing that the denouement,
whether happy or sad
will always be for the best
because there are lessons learned—

but i never win an award.