Why is there so much sugar
in cake? Why do we never notice
mosquitoes on our skin
until it's too late? How do some
butterflies travel farther
than some birds? How
have you not heard me?

How come an eagle always
soars overhead the minute
my camera dies? How come
it's so easy to lie?

How can the lake look so much
like an ocean, but I
always just look like me?

A cloudy sky offers so much
more than a clear one--
more texture, more tough.
There's not much salt in
Lake Michigan, but
there's probably some, right?
That's gotta be true?

I'm sorry I like you.

it's the complete opposite of sweater weather,
and for once,
i'm enjoying it.
feeling the hot sand between my toes,
the contrast of the cool waves lapping at my body
as i soak up the sun before i get in,
the all too familiar smell of sunscreen,
that lingers all the way home till i shower off the salt
that formed onto my skin.
the routine that i get into,
clears my head,
making me relish the remaining time i have of it:
the sweet smile of the waitresses once i order my coffee,
already making more plans even when i'm out of the house,
posting pictures of how great i look
without the crippling pressure of school
that weighs down my shoulders.
truly, i don't know how i manage,
when the time eventually rolls around to wear sweaters

"Love me",
Your very existence seemed to whisper to me
Even though the words
never rolled off your tongue

You fixed my soul
You filled in my holes
That I didn't even know existed
You caressed
My darkest demons
and they willingly became your slaves.

How could I not then,
Become your prey
How could I not then
be the salt to your ocean?

Until one day, you decided
to be a lake, surrounded
by snow-capped mountains
and my salt was left on the sands
waiting for your waves
to come and sweep me in your arms

But you never came,
And I never rode with an ocean again.

I didn't fall
Into the steps
To cover the truth
In sugar,
And for what the bitterness
It holds
And wicked intentions
That folds, because of
The linger taste
Will not flush,
But holds,
Until time will find
It ways to unleash
The bitterness of salt.

I want to drown
I want to breathe the water in
And never breathe out again
I want the salt water to burn the fresh cuts in my wrists
I want the dark to cradle me as I float into never ending sleep
I want to drift off
with no sign of life
I want to drown

The ocean has a dusky,
Ethereal duality
I see in its waves
their chaos
the contentment of the universe
How do you know we are all not
A massive salt soup

I hope my hopes are not as dashed
As the slew of fish corpses
Lying about the shore.

the salt in my skin
grants me a bit of safety
from those who lap at the souls of the weak.
the one or two who dared to taste
recoiled their tongues,
mouth more sour for having wasted saliva on me.

i understand how to live
as a sharp misfortune of the senses.

but i don’t understand you,
with your heart full of nectar
ready to give a spoonful for a bitter tea,
or a hearty cup for a neighbor with sudden need.

don’t you see the crows circling,
waiting to gorge on your ripe heart?
they take pieces like candy from a bowl,
hoping to finding their whole
from a beauty best not enjoyed in parts.

i don’t understand you,
how you share so sweet a love
with drifters on a sugar fix,
a knowing smile on your face.
crows dressed in a finch’s feathers
chirp their pathetic thank you song,
it is enough for you.

i wish to learn how to sweeten my skin again.

I took your love as a grain of salt.
Now that you have left.
All I want is a sight of art and
To sit beside you
I understand that pain is relative.
But I know the part I gave to you
Is something I can't give to anyone else.