When I threw out my hand,
And everyone else pulled theirs,
You stayed open
And grabbed onto mine.
Through dawn and dusk,
Through wind and time,
You held on,
Without question,
Without a faltering will.

Through the glacial mountains
And the phantasmic ravines,
Your hand gave mine warmth,
And I held on,
No longer wanting to let go.

For those who held on
Even when I screamed
To let go,
I thank you for your hands
And giving me a reason
To hold my life close.

I love to hold magnets in my hands
and feel them pull toward each other.
It is such a force of nature
that I don't really understand,
but without failure
those two magnets will always want to be together.

But what happens when there is a brick in the way
Or another magnet
or even a tiny piece of paper.
When there is space between them
or something blocking their way,
do the magnets forget about each other?

But even if that paper is there
once it is taken away
the magnet doesn't change its desires
or listen to those who tell it not to want
Or what it wants.

Wouldn't it be great if we all were just like magnets?
But maybe we are,
attracted to one magnet.

I look at my hand
once this was yours
and in yours at all times
you liked it that way
I didn't complain

I look at my finger
where your ring used to be
you placed it there with a promise
I never believed it was real
and I was right
it wasn't

There's dirt under my fingernails
There's pen marks on my hand
I don't know how they got there
I just don't understand
I'm curled up in a corner
My stomach is tied in knots
There's something crawling in my throat
I can't connect the dots
I've lost the feeling in my arm
From clutching it to my head
Crying up the distance
That they should have made instead
Faintly in the backdrop
They simmer in something mean
I wash my hand with soapy water
But the marks can still be seen
All I hear are glasses
They smash towords the floor
All I smell is putrid gas
From the night out just before
I'm getting kind of sleepy
And we're past the midnight mark
But it's difficult to dream
When the dreams you made are dark
But nontheless I'm sleeping
I move but make no sound
And I wake up in the morning
There's empty bottles all around
I don't know what happened to you
Because the laughter falls like sand
But there's dirt under my fingernails
And pen marks on my hands.

- Anisah Mariah

you said,
    "love is war,
      i am your soldier".

i'm in pain,
     yet you never came.

you held my hand,
     and there's no spark;
     you pulled me close,
     but then you fall.

Warmer or colder - that don't matter
Get your hands wet with clean running water

Now apply soap - liquid or tablet
Lather it up, both the front and the back

Between all the fingers, don't forget thumbs
Under the nails, there there be bugs

Carry on scrubbing, at least 20 seconds
Sing happy birthday, twice for good measure

Now for the rinse, with clean, running water
And once you have dried, you're a true virus fighter.

When our hands' touch
i feel electricity
run through my veins
like vines turned to ash



and then you pull away
and then you pull away
and then you pull away