Social smoking,
Social what?
I don’t know you,
Don’t you see?

“Can I have a cigarette?”
Can you have my cigarette?
Oblige me as you may,
You are obliged to talk to me now.

Insulated, instigated community
Kept alight by the *** at hand.
As we harm our health
We tarnish our respect.

LOLs and falls are commonplace,
You were my enemy ‘til tonight,
This faithful night,
When I gave you my cigarette.

Clouded distaste
Subtly lost
As we look
For a fickle flame.

“No I don’t have a lighter”
Don’t you know me anymore?
Usurped, ****** dry
Watch me die.

Tonight I may not be so lucent.

Him:
I can’t listen to my favourite song,
Because I shared it with you.
I don’t have a favourite film,
Because you seen it first with me.
I won’t eat enchiladas,
Because “nobody cooks ‘em like you do.”
I can’t look at my guitar,
Because you’re not here to play it to.
I never visit the beach,
Because it’s where we kissed for the first time every year.
I gave up singing too,
Because you were the only one who said I could.
I don’t use fabric softener anymore,
Because it can’t comfort me like you did.
I refuse to wear my old white shirt,
Because we both know who looked better in it...

Her:
I listen to your favourite song,
Because I don’t want to listen to anyone else.
I watch your favourite film,
Because you were so excited to show me first.
I eat enchiladas every week,
So that I might have reason to invite you to dinner.
I stop by the music store every month,
So I can be reminded of you and your guitar.
I visit the beach every year,
But the wind never quite blows the same when you’re not there.
I wish I could hear you sing to me now,
It makes you so happy when you do.
I use the same fabric softener you have,
Because it’s the smell of your arm around me.
I want to ask you for your old white shirt,
But I’m afraid that you’ll say no...



Him & Her:**
I want to call you, talk to you
But I’m afraid you’ve moved on.
I don’t want to seem lost and lonely to you,
Even if it’s true.
Because I want to hold your hand again
And feel the perfect overlap
Of lines across our palms.
I want to be drawn to your eyes once more,
Locked together and speaking
All the words I can’t say.
I want to dare to touch your skin
And trace outlines
Across your back.
I want to share your smile
First thing in the morning, last thing at night
Knowing it’s because I’m there.
I want cold beers to turn warm
In the evening sun
Because I’m lost in your conversation.

But I’m too afraid to knock on your door,
When you’re around,
And find disappointment, crushing down.

I’m holding you, in my arms
But I cannot see me in your eyes.
They’re looking down, to the ground
And all the world away from me.

You take a step, two steps back
You lie, with your back to me.
You’re taking kisses and giving none,
Why do you steal away from me?

Friends and foe, show their face
When ex-lovers knock on your door.
All the while, inside your home
I’m trapped in your life ‘way from mine.

Afraid to ask, I need to say
All this heavy fear, its anchored deep.
You may tell me all, please make it quick.
My heart bleeds from beneath my knees.

Drowning us, day by day
This cancer on my mind is growing deep.
But I never wanted to give up on you
Even when you began to stray.

                I’m screaming,
                  And cursing.
                        Angry,
                  And helpless.
                   Then quiet,
                  And sobbing.
  Finding goodbye, before hello.

Vehement rage pierces
Like shards
From a glass once half full;

Viscous sorrow,
Exposed remorse,
Bludgeoned pride,
Impassioned anger,
Bottomless love.

Tears caught in these cracks
Run the length of his soul,
Stretched too far to ever be the same.
You ****, you shot his baby girl.


Surely, the Harrowing of Hell wasn’t any worse than this?
Please God let this man feel hunger again,
Let him conquer the infernos,
Let him take her back from gates infinity.
She should not have to wait for her father there,
Let him wait for her.

You stole not just a moment but a lifetime
When each bullet punctured a parent’s caring nourishment;
One for each year;
Four lodged in arms and legs,
Three between shoulders,
Twice through his heart, once between her eyes.
Each one garnishing a rose red, then black.
Each one sinking clenched fingers into fleshy palms
Each one a hardened fist.
Each one,
Screaming,
Sorrow.

It takes a lot for a man to shed a tear
Every teardrop steels a cold hard revenge.
Killer beware, he will not rest his grievances
(This man’s eyes have wet his anger for five long years)
Fear the unforgiving wrath of a parent’s love,
The devil’s hand cannot help you now.

Sleep gurgles peacefully,
While innocent dreams float on by.
Vague memories, glide like driftwood downstream,
Dangled from our tranquil surrounds.
But you, you clung on like a vulture to its prey,
Deep among darker dangers.
Pillaging mercilessly,
You pierced my mind.
Red panic gushing out,
Black fear soaking in.
It was cleaned quickly away by a bubbling blue stream,
But boy, oh boy! I will always remember you.