The corners of the pages
fold in on themselves,
and the blankets are
still a mess from before.
At night the pyramids talk to me,
and the sails of ships.
We converse about who
I used to be.
Hidden under petals,
privately ruling a petulant world;
no one approaching me
with weak teeth
trying to tell me to enjoy
being alone.
There are no ashes in these bones.
Vines grip and swallow me
and keep me warm.
In the morning I make the bed
before weak knees
walk the city.
Alone is my home.
The zipper pull of the
train tracks is
the loudest quiet
I have ever made love to.

No weakness tonight -
I tremble and ache
and doubt has colonized my veins...
But loneliness and heartbreak
will not be my bed mates.
I will sleep with dry eyes,
knees far from my chest.
Tonight I will rest.
Tonight I went on a date
with the moon.
I told her about you.
I started to say that
you shine like she does
but before I finished the thought
I knew I was wrong.
I will not write a line
saying you are my moon.
But for you, I burn,
And when I'm with you
I am full.
And when you're gone
the moon is full.
"There is no time for weakness,"
she tells me,
"Be full."

I'm sorry my love is
a stubborn silence
and not the singing of the rain.
I'm sorry all I do is stare
and hope for you to hear
what's in my head.
Sometimes I forget that
people aren't books,
And that we have more than
just hearts in our chests.
Sometimes I'd rather bleed
than speak,
And hope that you
don't mind the mess.
I see now that life is full
Of people leaving.
And listening to them saying goodbye
won't make them stay.
But my voice has always felt like
an echo in a cave.
And Courage is a word
I have yet to define.
But if you give me a "next time"
I'll try
Because you saw me when
I was a ghost -
And I saw you and felt
like I was home.
Maybe my silence can be
The echo in your bones.

You sure do ask me
a lot of things
Like why do I look
like I don't know
where to be
I answer
Maybe I don't
And you shrug and
look away
You ask if I've ever
been in darkness so
deep I couldn't see
I answer
Yes I have
And you think of
something else to ask
Like if I've ever
Lived somewhere haunted
I answer
With ghost stories and
you tell me yours
And we go on and on
with our little talks
And I go on quietly
wondering
What you're looking for
And what you've found

In the creases and folds
I find the one.
He dusts me off and
puts me on a shelf.
I see him walk by
a thousand times.
I bury him again.
I'm having trouble recognizing
which of us is made of bronze -
The penny that you don't collect
'cause it's face is always turned
toward the ground.
But every hand that ever
touched me was your hand.
My skin is full of scars
from fingertips.
Sometimes I think I'll never
be warm again.
But how could you forget
a burn like that?

Your life is a pattern
Of analogies and fantasies
The stories no one hears
And the secrets in your dreams

You drown in the pattern
As the sun goes down
Leaving, though you still
need its light

But it's futile to try to
stop the night

Will you break the pattern?
Have you ever really tried?
Maybe sometimes being broken
is the only way to see inside.

My parachute eyes
      Holes in the middle
I'm falling much faster
     Than I thought
And I hope the ground
     Is soft
This unimaginable big
When I am so little
     A lightning strike
And I am gone before
     I've even said yes
But here there is no room
     For "I guess"
I find my feet aching
     For new streets
Eyes searching
     For new sights
Though heart is heavy and still
     A stone
So here I leave you, heart
For wherever you are is home
The rest of me goes on
     Final destination unknown

When you find me
     I am an animal
                          And you do not knowingly call
And I pull you
     Grasping on to bones  
You didn't know you had
             I leave the decision up to you
             Change my face
Tell you
             I'm only in love with the moon
   The afternoon
                            Takes you away
                                                         You fade
A vague shape
That warms my cheek
           On a cloudy day
The light I chase
           When I can't sleep
The one I pretend I don't see
                                                                ­ Even though you've seen
                                                            ­                    Almost all of me

The footsteps above my head
The itch in my leg
Pupils full of ink
I am where I was last week

A loop of day dreams
Keep singing and floating
Like yellow leaves
Burning green

And I can remember
Over and over
Burning green

And words I didn't mean
Someone who wasn't me
And pupils full of ink
Stones in my skin
Ink sinking in

Fingers grasping the page
"It's almost done" I say
And next week
I'll say the same

There used to be a garden
Behind the hedges of a mansion
A mansion sitting calmly
Under the mist of a mountain

In the garden stood a statue
On a pedestal of stone
She stood looking sadly
Looking small and alone

The rain would fall gently
Turning her face a deep gray
Still she kept on posing
As she slowly wore away

No one thought to view her
As in the garden she stood
The vines soon overgrew her
Knowing no one ever would

It wraps around me
Pulling me close all the time
Warm and gentle, like you

I wish for it to
Last forever, but I know
It will all end soon

So I hold on and
It holds me, like a tree branch
Holding a small nest

The wind sends me close -
The fruit of the tree, your neck
And its bark, your chest

They don't wake
                       for me
                                 But I
                                         wake for you
Feeling like art
I hang
******* in
               knots of you
And you pull
               And pull
                              And pull
And I hang

You fill me up
And soon I will
Explode
Into a thousand new worlds
Where this feeling
Never gets old
It folds
Deep into my skin
Sinking in
Shaking me
Making me
Insane with the way
You find me
Search me
Play me
Learn me
Stay a little longer
I don’t mind
It’s fine
Because once you leave
I leave time behind
And chime like rhymes that find deep lines
Etched into the surface of my skin
Where you’ve been
Speak again
New friend
Listen to your words bend
Wrap around me
And fill me
Spilling
Filling
Me