I want flowers to grow from my lungs
and fill my mouth with beautiful things my mind cannot provide

if i could meet myself when the demons started whispering in my ear,
i would tell myself that they’d been there all along
and that i am strong
that i have been walking through hell since the day i was born
that my bones are made of iron
and my veins are filled with lava
i had been walking through hell and giving it a run for its money
and those demons can’t have me anymore

You nod your head, yes you understand
You can feel my pain like no one else can
Next day, nasty words, I’m stupid again
You grab my hand and lower your tone
I shake my head, I’ll just walk home alone

Let him dream of birds
And clouds that look like daydreams
Let him float away
Calm and happy and free

Let the weight of ice melt within him
And wings come in to hold him
The glaciers turn to oceans
As relentless sun pours through

Words mean everything.
Words mean nothing.

Everything means something.
Nothing means anything.

Decide.

I am the devil with kind eyes
and good intentions
I am the demon determined
for joy to hum on my lips
while I lead you to slow sorrow
I am the blackened water
that closes every throat
and still hopes to bring life
The only possessions of mine
bigger than the burden on my back
are the denial on my tongue
and the blood beneath my nails

Your face glows brighter than any star
and words are just letters on a keyboard
and the road we’re on will take us far
but that’s the story I signed up for
Queue the lazy mornings and soft piano
that plays behind the soft sunlight
whose only sadness is the death of the moment
as it fades to dream on the wings of a butterfly
But the stars are still behind your teeth
and there will be mornings to come
where my sun rises when you do for coffee
and the music rolls off your tongue

Wrinkles carve stories into your face
acting out past smiles across each cheek
that kiss both ears like long lost lovers
and paint stars into your canvas eyes

Clouds or smoke escape closed lips
Shadows of fences, no, barbed wire
Not an invitation but a warning this young heart slips
Ablaze and seared, it’s made of fire
Fire, burning hot and burning fast
It burns cold, feels too slow
It’s changing, it hurts
Put it out, please put it out, oh no.

Whispers scream into her ears
as her CD player goes quiet across the room.
The dry tide against her hair fans a flame
of longing and happiness and content
that pushes her cheeks to her eyes.
She feels every drop the sun has to give
within her. Inside each inch of her skin.
and the only shelter to be found is hidden
behind whispers, bed sheets, and the steady breaths
that push and pull her into open arms.

Kind little creature grew claws
to keep away the fangs sinking into its skin
Into scars where skin had been

There will still be music amongst my ribs
when the drum is broken and ripped open.
Flowers will still sprout from my mouth
when I lay amongst velvet and wood
I will have made you feel my power.
My magic will build a home in your walls.
I will lie beneath your memory
and your eyes will cry my tears
while your heart beats my own song.

A sailor at sea
Won’t be able to tell the difference
Between a bird and me
He chose to sail
I chose to soar
It doesn’t matter if i fail
I touched the sky, i tried
I won’t ask for more

A pair of lips blanketed by blood stammer.
Once for surprise, once for defeat.
The woman’s pulse quickens
when her disguise, the glitz and glamour,
dulls and her mystery slips from her
like a satin robe as she surrenders her intellect
to the hope of intimacy.

They pushed your feet through paper
when your head caught the sky like a fever
and stars shone through your eyes

I pulled you to the pavement
to watch your brothers and sisters
fly across the black ocean above you

Dreams and lack of them floated you
above a world you forgot to know
where the bunnies beneath your bed
ate the silver dripping from your fingertips

Your mother taught you how to swim
so you could reach the white island
that waited to become your home
and fight away the dark tide riddled bright

She dances across the room
Her soul no less than floating
Balancé, balancé, run run, fly

Air is her love, her home, her castle
She left her chains to the ground when
God gave her wings and she complied

Birds be ******
She's lighter than clouds
And needs no sky

Click-reverse-click-fastforward
Click, click, click, it's stuck
A voice if you'd call it that in tune with
one jerky movement
The poor girl trapped inside the box
seizes and dances with lightning
through her veins and water in her head
One rhythm, no expression
Just a dull 'eee-o-o-o-eee-o-o-eee'
Wake up, Jesus, please let me wake up

Start the night with cigarette adventures
laughing at jokes written on railings
in... sharpie?... yeah?... yeah, I guess, sure
Who knows, who cares, it's funny
and the cheap forties make it hilarious
Throw in Jesus and ***, you sold me.

Everyone wants to run from the wolves
The dark creatures that howl and snarl
No one will ever tell you how they’ll care
How they’ll love you when they catch up
To your running feet and your pained lungs
They’ll still be around when the sunshine leaves
If only you’d let them find you