he didn't tell you
to put that ring on
but he might as well have
when the invoice was done

she burned the cauliflower again
it was for his favorite dish
and the fire alarm wouldn't stop
even after opening all the vents
a great metaphor she thought
for his disappointment
while she tried to decide
what went best with a limp fish
"whiskey or gin?"

I rode euphoria
that was not my own
and
somewhere along the way
I think I
dropped my soul

These Titans that walk among us;
When they bow to kiss our cheeks
They crush us with their knees.

Happiness tucks itself inside her smile
Distrust slides its scales between her fingers

Beware to those who would love her
For you never know what else follows

so that when you are lost, I can get lost with you too.

My body likes
to be the thing
you fidget with.

So, feel free
to come and
hyperfocus
with me.

one time I tried to be optimistic,
but,
well, let's just say it didn't turn out real great.

I do not wish
to live forever
dancing among
these graves
not yet made
ghost watching

Kiss me in the east
So I can set in the west
To wish sweet dreams
For your eyes every night

on the seventh day
the butterfly wing pages
covered in holy script
would wrap around
an insidious tongues sermon
pressing her heart to confess
to dark watchful eyes
its ungodly shape

fingernail made moons
bled her supplication
colored the pale, deaf air
with a desperate repentance
too garish and late
for them to ever deem her
worthy of being saved

along her raw fragile skin
temptations filth still crawled
sin too scarlet to be washed
to pay forgiveness' price
her body was to be tithed
the crimson covered over after
by her favorite wool white
Sunday Best dress

You captured All and then it faded,
grayed by a sunburnt haze
before being stored away.
In the boxes under the bed,
        (fingered buttons, clever lips;
          Kiss- click-shutter-snap.)
filtered finely by dust
and conveniently labeled,
        (quiet snores, little hands;
          Grasp- click-shutter-snap.)
All that was forgotten, found,
and once again shifted around.
        (tall grass, wild spins;
          Laugh- click-shutter-snap.)
.

Wide awake champagne bubble eyes;
Kissing time already gone goodbye.

Gilded in gold
but binding all the same,
A contract made with rings
and fine print no one reads.
Local government has to agree
how to dissolve the terms
of all those promised dreams,
reduced now to only physical things.

It is hereby ordered and adjudged:
No longer love.

You created a shallow place
Where memories should pool deep
But none are kept to admire

You created love
That was a fleeting feeling
A dream to burn my eyes when I woke

You created a thing grown
That still occasionally stings
As it explains
Who was my mother's daughter

he cursed her
without words
his fists
a blaspheme
against his girl

i grew spines
when one was never enough.

you think it's cruel
how quickly I forgot
about you
and when I remember
to think of it
I think so too
if no one stays
it's a lifetime of
Object Impermanence
baked in by nature
but nurtured by others
including you

her words make her feel like an imposter
the past makes her feel like a spectator
when he asks her how the family is doing
she wonders if she looks pretty enough
if it will ever be able to cover it all up
he doesn't bother to ask any further
and she gets her answer

She no longer has to wonder
How it feels to lose the stranger
Who always stares back
In her mirror