The corners singed
Smoke rising
It was on too long
So not surprising
Next time I won't read:
The email, the text, or the
Instagram message.
Tomorrow I'll forget
I'll flick the switch
And my mind will drift
Like a balloon sailing out to sea
And once again burnt toast
Will be waiting for me

Fabric and strings,
I'm sick of these things
that smother my face
and muzzle my screams!
What are these things
I hate you might ask?
Just give me a match,
I'll burn up my mask!

This Beautiful Boy
And my heart hops in my chest as he breezes by me
The air seems warmer and my mind foggier,
Like the hot, humid day waiting outside the doors of the air-conditioned gym
He stands only a mere few feet away and his gaze circles the room
I can’t help but laugh at his bored expression as he sits in a ray of light coming from the window
He’s an angel with a halo around his head and white wings anchored into the space between his shoulder blades
My stare makes the ends of his light brown hair catch fire, cut short from when it brushed across his shoulders only a few months ago, the tip of a brush splattering paint on the back of his neck
His shoulders that spread out wide against the confinements of his shirt, scorching heat tears open small holes and burn his skin red
His legs, tufts of blonde that are almost invisible, catch my eye in the light, disintegrating into the air, and the soft skin of his knees blister and pop
As they move toward his chest, the colors of people around him twist and blur into nothing
Until it's just him and the light blue shorts sliding up his pale thighs
His whole body is on fire
His pretty thighs melting, his pretty thighs burning,
his pretty thighs his pretty thighs his pretty thighs
Bright images flash behind my eyes and my mouth goes dry
Please don't glance back at me,
I won't be able to look away

I'm the kind of girl who burns through guy friends like rubber on tiers, like sulfur on matches, like gasoline and kerosine and flameward moths.
But I don't want to burn through you.
We just go together so well—like puzzle pieces.
You and I are like day and night, sun and moon.
If you only knew how it eats me up inside, keeping my cool.
I feel this tiny spark dancing in my heart and it threatens to rake my body in flames, ready to pounce on me, licking and biting at the first sign that I'm falling for you.  
I'm really trying to hold my fuse right now, but one second we're joking and laughing and in the next you say something that tugs at me and I feel my hold on it slipping.
If I don't burn you first, this fire in my bones will certainly consume me.

You always tell me of the
e l e c t r i c i t y
coiled in your bones, and
how I put it there.
But my dear, you are one to talk,
for you've got me
burning like the wire in
lightbulbs.

Hollow and stone
Follow the bone
Up the spine
Through thine
Decaying marrow

Nerves barely tingle
Rippling, thoughts mingle
Wisping through delicate strings
Concealed bell ring, rings
Echoing through the piercing silence
Seeking out no such guidance

Whispers tell fragments of an intriguing tale
Rise of the spirits, only to shatter
Pierce the fragile veil
Words to crumble and clatter
Into a fumbling mess
Consisting of disaster and stress
To a well-worn gate
At last torn by great emotions, perhaps hate

Fires of many to burn
Lessons still to learn
From the ashes to be born anew
Some to bid adieu
As form is to reshape
Forged from fires of passion
Still with every scar and scrape
No longer of ashen soul
Finally, becoming whole

- Jay M
February 22nd, 2021