i wish this body
would melt off of my soul
like a popsicle on a hot summers day

i wish this body
could unzip itself
like a hazmat suit

and i could float out and leave my tarnished anchor behind

and they looked at each other and
yes it was a look of love but
it was also more because it was like
they saw through each other to
the bottom of their soul and
found that there was
family there they looked
at each other like
they were their hope and
their strength and
heart and mind and
everything in between like
they prayed every night that
death would claim them first so
it was not simply love and
friendship it had to be
something else and
i can't quite put my
finger on it

the cynic in me wants to brush it off but
i'd never seen anything like it before

he asked to read my poetry
and i had to tell him no
and when he wondered why
i had to reply
you've undressed my body
but poetry is my naked soul

i do not kiss you in my dreams
i do not feel the heat of your breath
nor smell the honeyed perfume of your sheets
nor taste the bitter salt of your skin

i do not dream of falling asleep in your arms
tracing the silhouette of your body with my fingertips
and i do not feel the of the burning of your palms
nor hear the sound of your breathy sighs
nor savor the smoky baritone of your laughter
nor drink in the lavender of your warmth

i do not dream of this
i do not dream at all

there is a biting chill in the air
today
that's snuck into bed with me
ruffled my hair and
wrapped around my wrist
caressed the hollow of my throat
it is not unkind to me
no it is not a storm
it's just a slight crack in the window
and it says to me
just lie with me
let me weigh down your soul
the world will wait

and so i stay
and my soul is weighed down
but biting wind is a bitter lover
and on the third promise
it lied
the world did not wait for me
and so i am left behind

perhaps that is all for the better.

there was once a man
with a pocket full of rainbows
and some were sharp
and some were warm
and some were in between
but they were all beautiful
and the man would pull them out
one at a time
and feel their reflection in his chest
and he would know he was alive

but one day he reached into his pocket
and found that a color was gone
but he had so many more colors
so he thought nothing more of it
and felt the reflection of his almost full rainbow in his chest

yet more and more colors went missing
and his rainbow got smaller
and thinner
and its reflection was not so bright as it once was
and one day he reached into his pocket
and all that was left was blue
and his chest felt hollow
for without the other colors in the rainbow
the reflection of blue was nothing more than grey mist

but blue was all the man had
so he held it tighter to his chest
and decided to never return it to his pocket
out of fear that he might loose the only color he had left

so the mist surrounded him
and dyed his skin grey
and turned his eyes into cold diamonds
and fashioned his feet into stone
and the man was afraid
afraid to let go of his blue
and discover
that it was the only thing left
anchoring him to the earth.

once upon a time
in a land far away
there was a girl
who wished upon a star
who fell through a book
who dove to the bottom of the sea
who touched the moon
who flew among the dragons
who called down the thunder
and lightning
and wind
who held up the sun

who had a life full of beginnings and middles
and a chapter in between the two
and never seemed
to have her
story
end


but what becomes of a full life if it has no ending?