Pyromania teaches you
something;
Playing with fire
is much like
playing with hearts,
someone will always
feel the burn.

month ten, it began to snow
as the choir sang christmas songs
all too soon
and while everyone got all warm
and fuzzy,
it's not gloomy enough for me.
i grew up in the rain and
my filters drowned in it
which probably explains
my bitterness towards the sun
and any given day.
but yesterday,
how sweet it was, for you to say
you love me
to this female who loves you too much
for you to be kind
for you to be nice
for you to be generous
for you to be kidding
and the casual invitation
in which you promptly ignore.
now, the smoke that rolls over when each of your veins move
has become my october addiction
but your words are a close second
and the storms that the forecast
no longer calls for are the reason
it's tolerable,
tolerable,
is it tolerable?

And who am I to think I should be loved
[When I’m not even sure what it means
Being me
Anymore]
So I’m tucking away the parts of me
[The Kate Lyn you know and love]
That shouldn't exist That love you
[You won’t have that frustrating child at your feet
Tugging on your shirt for reassurance
Anymore]

I’m closing off the eyes I only had for you
[Forever]
And
[In the meantime]
I’ll learn Braille
[So when you’re ready]
I will trace your spine with my fingertips
To see the name you’ve made for yourself
[Maybe you’ll even let me read your lips
With my own

But I get too far ahead of myself
By wishing that
Don’t I, Love?]

And who am I to think I should be loved
[For all that I am]
When I don’t even know what makes up all that I am
[I have yet to discover my favorite flavor of ice cream
And every stable person ought to know something like that,
I think,
Just in case.]

Who am I to think that you would love me

[I suppose that you did press your lips to my pages
Leaving kisses in the footnotes of my story
Burning away the definition of ‘just friends’]
There are four holes in my story now
[I counted]
When I tell people what happened to us

But love is more than that

[I think
That’s what I would like to learn
At least
By tucking myself away into an envelope for a while
Or perhaps into a bottle
I'd look prettier then
Knees against my chest
Watching my breath fog the glass
Taking my finger to draw hearts in the condensation
Letting it dry
Just to trace it again
Until you choose to see it
Getting drunk off my own message]

There’s more to me than the parts that love you
[I hope]

So I’m tucking myself away
Like I’ve said
[But hopefully not all of me
Because that would mean I can’t find any part of me
That cannot live without you]

Until I know the meaning of me
Until I can say I’ve left my hand on a stove for too long
[Experimenting with other love
Getting truly burned by a person that isn’t you]

I will not let my pencil be my driftwood anymore
[In this tempest we ignore]
I will wash myself up onto white beaches
Exploring the farthest reaches of my mind
[To fill those empty places I never take time to think about
With useful things
Like white roses and garden gnomes
Every yard ought to have those,
I think,
Just in case]

I’m going to stretch myself
[Until I’m thin enough to spread across a page
To be read like a book
Full of poetry that isn’t about you]
I hope you know how much it will hurt to do something like that
To let myself be put on display
[In some foreign library in a distant country]
To be looked through and seen
By eyes that aren’t yours
Because you’ll be somewhere else
[Doing useful things
Like matching socks
Or playing cards
Something like that]

I’m going to live without you
[For a while,
My love]
All those places that I’ve been wanting to see

I’ll see alone
First



[I feel that every person ought to be alone
At least for a little while
At some point
Before they can truly be happy with another]

And if you ever care to find me
[You know where]
Open me up on your card-playing table
[And if I've got white roses resting in my hair
And burns on the palms of my hands]
It will mean
[That I’ve seen all I need
And learned Braille enough]
It will mean
That I have learned what it
[Truly]
Means
To live
[Without you]

the third degree burns on my skin look much like the wounds you've engraved on to the surface of my heart

Seal my crushed soul with kisses,
Break my heart with words,
It's hard to live on without you,
Burns with every touch of your fingertips that once gave me chills.

As the light touches her skin,
A fire deep within,
Ablaze to set free, your desires.
And in the light of the moon she lies
Ethereal beauty,
The queen,
On *****, she breathes her fire.
Purifying the soul,
Her eyes burn,
Deep within your whole.
The night she claims her own
A magical spell to weaken you.
You, oh Icarus,
Fly too close to the sun.
And in her arms you lie,
Charmed and bewildered,
Wanting for more.