There once was a little sparrow who fell in love with a lion.
The lion warned the sparrow not to love him,
for he was bigger than she,
and he could crush her fragile bones.

But, the sparrow said, "No, Lion. I cannot go. I will love you even as I lay broken beneath your paw."
And so it was.
He loved her like he shouldn't, said they.
She didn't know how to love, said them.

Their squawks and twitters fell upon deaf ears.
The lion and the sparrow ran from them.
The sparrow flew away to nestle in the lions mane,
The lion roared at the slanderers, unknowing animals.

They ignored them.
They walked through woods in the rain,
Escaped in the night
And ran through the plains.

The lion stepped softly,
Kept the sparrow safe.
The sparrow sang sweetly,
Kept him in her wake.

"I love you," said the lion,
"like I never thought I could."
"I love you," said the sparrow,
"like I never knew I would."

"Don't ever go," said the lion,
"I cannot imagine you gone."
"Don't ever leave," said the sparrow,
"I know now, you are my song."

The murmurs faded,
Beasts quieted with time,
But the lion and the sparrow vowed to love the other,
Until the stars fell down.

He's just a people boy and I'm just a people girl

And he's breaking my floor

I come tumbling down

Scraping my elbows and knees along the way


Music fills my head with his breath behind it

Rhythm pounding inside my skin

Traveling through my veins

Paced for a race and wild like flames


His lips are soft but I wouldn't know

Voice that crawls into my ears

And makes my bones sing right out loud

Eyes that make me shiver when they find mine


Smooth and sweet he hides on the other side

Rain falls steady blinding

Bitter and rough I try to get there

Impossible he stands tall so I can see


Sleep calls out to me

Deep and deeper I breathe through a straw

He floats on past me head above water

Slippery indifferent are my hands that reach


Silence fills up our space

Speech boiling stuffy beneath our tongues

The world watches unknowing as I struggle

No telling whether he can hear


Falling farther than ever

Were almost out of reach

Tossing in sleep that pulls at our dreams

Idle idealistic from a distance


I am the outsider

My footsteps are everywhere lost

He's walking ahead looking back

Aching to speak


Between lines of love lines of fear

We stand together apart

Looking up at a sea of faces that would see

So our footsteps make not a sound



Tangled are we

Confused in our places

What we know is right

And yet what we see is redundant unmoving


So we stand at a still breathe each others maybes

They look right through us

Never substantial but always tangible transparent are we

In any other place time world


He's just a people boy and I'm just a people girl

And he's broken my floor

I come stumbling tragic

Breaking my heart along the way.

it helped the pain but
woulden't hide the bruises
no matter how she
begged

makeup coulden't cover it so
she skipped class, remembering
last time she had to
explain the bruises
on her face
away

failed the class because
she coulden't scream
or the neigbors would know
and it happened again and
again

grew up
like a sick and sadistic
broken bone

Silence is not the enemy,
the lipstick on your wrist is
and it's a good thing you
know invisibility spells
because you look way too
good for dead eyes.

I'll let you be happy
with yourself,
but only sometimes,
because your mother's socks
are whiter than yours will ever be,
and you know why:
you lived it.

I see clearly what you hide from.
give me danger give me comfort
give me something to hold onto when your words lose meaning
                                                   and when you don't want to call
or when the ground glows yellow in the late evening sun.
"stop kissing your cousin"
"stop pretending like you know how to exist"
                                                          ­            I'm smiling.
you're probably watching television.

barely a hand dipped into conversation and you're already questioning our friendship.
I know you like I know beauty, and smoke, entering your mouth from mine, reaching out like arms:
we held each other in older ways than we knew how.
                                                                ­                    (it came naturally).

I've passed good morning good afternoon and good evening
to meet you in the space between midnight
to meet you inside light                                to meet you for the first time as jesus
to try and forgive you for things I don't know about.

(I'd cut off your fingers if you asked me to, I'd cut out the jokes,
and I'd cut off my eyelashes,  I'd cut off  all my hair and
glue it to your face, your face) bursting out:
                                                            ­            Your Face.
it's the same as when we held hands in your fathers car
and when you pressed your lips on mine while you thought I was asleep
whispering: "I love you" as you backed away.
move closer. move away. move down the street. move out of state.

the coffee stand made me say "let's be friends"
and we were.
we were. we were. we were.


let's just say
(that)
                     I still owe people money.

Had it been when I came to the valley where the paths parted asunder,
Chance had led my feet to the way of love, not hate,
I might have cherished you well, have been to you fond and faithful,
Great as my hatred is, so might my love have been great.

Each cold word of mine might have been a kiss impassioned,
Warm with the throb of my heart, thrilled with my pulse's leap,
And every glance of scorn, lashing, pursuing, and stinging,
As a look of tenderness would have been wondrous and deep.

Bitter our hatred is, old and strong and unchanging,
Twined with the fibres of life, blent with body and soul,
But as its bitterness, so might have been our love's sweetness
Had it not missed the way­strange missing and sad!­to its goal.