I've never been kissed so gently
so purposefully
as if the world depended on your lips      
and my skin.

I'm not sure what you see
maybe a flower with thin petals you don't want to rip,
maybe a face of porcelain you don't want to scratch,
maybe a healing heart you don't want to bruise.

I've never been kissed so softly,so cautiously,like you are somehow made of shattered glass
and are careful not to cut my skin
just because you are broken.

As if you don't see the scars and burns
that already pepper my heart,
as if I'm the fragile one,
     thin and feeble,
small and unreachable as if there is a chance I could melt into the ground
if you hold too tight,

and maybe there is a chance I will.

It seems like you map out the placement,
like stars making a curious pattern in the sky,
beyond either of our reaches.

I've never been kissed so delicately,so deliberately
like the winds at midnight across the ocean,
powerful and moving,
soft and caressing.

As if I'm a gem you have been searching for,
blood red,
milky,
uncut
and you don't want to snag your lips on my edges,
or maybe you don't want to scratch the surface.

I'm not sure I will ever know.

If fusion were just
a cheap trick to
make gems stronger,

then would Garnet
have even found
Sapphire and Ruby
to begin with?

Is our comfort made
from presence or
conversation and
which is stronger?

The side effect of
unconditions is that
thing expectation
dreads; some book
already read

turned its page and said:
I am made of love, boldly
with inflated lungs, but

what is love
even made of?

A flaw in the crystal spire
Of our deeply entwined hearts,
Much like the flaws of corundum,
Alights a ruby's fire.

ruby slippers drag me home,
tin men clasping my hands.
they wish me goodbye,
pressing their lips on my skin.

glittering eyes cross into mine,
metal smiles sprout on their mouths.
they offer me flowers, petals of red.
a bouquet of my greatest desire.

returning home sparks a flame in me,
burning the metal flesh of the tin men's lips.
goodbye, I whisper into the wind,
merrily waving to my most devoted sin.

desir and darkness collide into one,
my ruby slippers exchanging touches.
the winter wind draws me away,
back to the place I was born to stay.

thank you, sweet fantasy,
sweet lovers of metal hearts.
thank you, flower poets,
serenading me in a homely perfume.

on the emerald arms of grass,
my body lays to rest, tilted up to the sky.
a rainbow waves me goodbye,
fastening its multicolored smile.

home is where I must be,
away from this supreme fantasy.
nothing more to say,
thankful for the magical dreams.

The forgotten gem among the precious
Your love is too dark for a child
Also precious
Yet pure like a diamond
Diamonds are so common

Garnet, you are rich
Richer than most in quality
Perhaps a banker or lawyer would remember you
But no, sapphires are rich
Richer than dull gold, not rich enough I say

You reach new depths, Garry
Like an ocean trench filled with the remains of the unknown's lunch
Not as deep as the amethyst, apparently
That is spiritually charged and better for the soul
Your violence is a stain, but I say it is a warning

Garnish, you lack value
Topaz is the quality they seek
The eye of the sun, so bright
Too bright
The eye of Jupiter is too much, I say enough

Oh Garnet
Forget Ruby, your sister
Forget Emerald, your opposite
Forget Opal, all in one, the God of the gems
You are Alfred the Great, so great, yet forgotten

Down by the bay
Where the poppies grow
And cool water floods the deep, pulsating red
Of mine eye
Flush the blood and blow the wind
Clear the crust of old wounds
This bay is a damp towel
Of soaked romance
Dripping in casualties

The sands of the bay are blanketed
With young Aryan girls whose hair has reddened to
Succulent Strawberries
How Alluring
Clear, clean eyes that sparkle with blue topaz
Such gems of innocence
Framed with fire locks
Water set with flame
Purity burned at the edges
Like the sun that scorches the tide

Night comes low
And cools the heat of youth
They say the night is young
But it is morning that is the baby
Night is wise
A deep sapphire that swallows all else
Wisdom
It purges the flesh
But leaves enough red for my cheek
Just a small spark
Before I turn cold