Oh darling, don’t cry,
this is merely love’s way of getting revenge.

My skin dreads your fingertips ghosting over it
Whispering lullabies from the distant shore
My lips dread your pair that trail butterfly kisses to the juncture of my jaw
My ears dread the dulcet tunes murmured from your pillow lips
That caresses the inner workings of my heart with bonafide admiration

My heart—the one you have—is the only one that adores every little gesture you make
Every slight remark
Every subtle action

But the rest of me does not want you
Because as much as I adore you
I cannot picture us together
Without the image shattering again.

You told me
Baby, I’ll ruin you.
I said
Don’t play with fire.

go ask ------ if i care.
ask her if she'll let you
slip inside while you're at it;
tell her that you love her
two weeks in.

you're too rough and
the polaroids you took
left me with black
tiger stripe bruises on
my sarasota gold tinted thighs.

everyone i've talked to,
everyone who knows you,
warned me that you were a creep.
but how could a darling angel
turn out to be such a freak?

you're suffocating like his
smoldering cigarette smoke
and you choke me out with
your big macho paw just
the same way he did last december.

i am not a possession;
i belong to no one and
i surely don't belong to
a tall, lanky creep like you.
do you hear me?

i'm a young teenage girl with
ribbons in my hair and bright
white ruffled socks pressed
into the carpet; have you
forgotten that little fact?

you were all to eager to pummel
my juvenile cherry pie raw,
but you were only ever focused
on your singular, deviant,
carnally charged pleasure.

You know it's funny--
our late nights when we're chasing
the dawn. I think we're waiting,
we're thinking
if we can just make it
for long enough, a big red sun
will clear squinting red eyes.
We're staying up for a revelation.
The new day will tell us
that we were wise
for chasing the light.
That it's all alright.
After all our dark nights.
Dancing our feet off for it.
Arguing with each other,
familiarity breeding contempt,
when it's 3 a.m. and we've been together
since Friday night dinner.
When a demon named Insomnia
whispers to keep our eyes open,
we do it because we don't want to lose.
In the morning, we pray,
we'll know what we should do.

I haven’t learnt to breath fire yet
So it sits in my chest, pressing against my ribcage, searing the flesh around my heart
Hot tongues lick up the inside of my throat, burning my words as they come up, blackening them beyond recognition
You put this burning snake inside me
And choose to blame me for burning too

You left a burning snake
That coils itself at the base of my gut
Snorting smoke that travels up inside me
Fills my lungs and chokes me
Until I learn to breathe fire
So I can destroy you with your own devices

You tell her I’m crazy
Because I told her how you slid your hands up the insides of my thighs the day you were planning to see her
Because I told her how your lips tasted the day you had dinner with her parents
Because I told her how you looked between my legs the day you told her you loved her

You tell her I’m crazy
Because you had me and wanted her

You tell her I’m crazy
Because I found out

I am sorry to my body
But my spirit was not strong enough