the water filled our lungs
and bled through the cracks in our skin.

bubbling, brimming

the sea touched my eyes and you were white
with seafoam, curdling between lashes,
silvers pooling over stark blues
on fingertips.

sinuous, submissive.

the piercing cold mixed with the rough salt
over tide-smoothed shells.

we breathed out our mist to cry over crashes of thunder.

enigmatic, flowing.

you are an acrobat, my prideful tide.  

your steel waters wash the sand from my legs
and glassy waves cleanse, twisting and curling,
releasing through our ocean breeze.

you opened your eyes and all i saw was sea glass.

White Head Phones
Blue head band
Wearing the shirt I bought her

Golden earrings
Golden wrist watch
As Golden as the sun

Feigning ignorance
In the face of romance
I think I like her

Wouldn't you?

I remember when I started drinking
myself to excess and I thought of you
how you didn't deserve such a **** friend
who couldn't keep their life from spiraling

I protected you the only way I knew how
pushing you away hurt but it was right
though I felt like you were, at that moment,
the last string tethering me to existence itself

I knew I was no good for you the way I was
though I wanted to call or text dozens of times
tell you about getting in to school or how
I had both fallen in love (and lost them entirely)

it was easy to go back to friendship
we're both the same people
we both love and care about each other
I don't miss what we had, because it's still here

I'm a jack-of-all-trades
good at nothing
good for nothing
I've never learned how to swim
or play an instrument
I can't drive a car
or write anything well
or carve your name in the stars
where it deserves to be

and I've never created
a single thing I've felt proud of
but I can cheer you on
watch you swim laps
from the shallowest end of the pool
and get excited when you publish
your capital "L" Literature
I'll cover you in glitter
so you'll shine to the ends of the galaxy
then we'll watch how every star in the night sky
blinks your name in morse code

You were just a spark.
Your flame not yet ignited.
Then he came into your life.
This boy,
he ignited you.
Your spark now a burning flame.
His smile lit it up with admiration.
His laugh made it flicker with excitement.
And his jokes made it roar with passion.
Soon enough he was your spark,
your flame,
your burn.
He engulfed you with fire,
he was your fire.
Little did you know that one day he would cause your flame to become dim.
He would feed your fire not with love,
but with hate.
And soon he was just a boy again.
And soon you were just a spark again.
Waiting,
waiting to be set on fire once more.

n.p.