"you're a thief."
she exclaimed
the boy smiled,
a teasing wicked smile
"how?"
the girl huffed
"you stole."
"what did i steal?"
"you stole...
kisses
love
my heart
glances
thoughts
smiles
tears
hope
friendship
and everything
in between"
the girl mumbled
tears being to
***** her piercing
eyes
the boy nodded
"i guess i will
steal something else."
the girl cringed,
afraid of his answer
"what?"
"our relationship."
and he picked up
their relationship
and dropped it.
kisses vanished
love faded
a heart shattered
thoughts drifted off
glances evaporated
smiles cracked
tears fell
hope disappeared
a friendship expired
and everything
in between
dissolved.

I washed her
from my pillow-slips.

In a white plastic bucket
I soaked away her body's breath,
and with bleach removed
the evidence she had  left.

We snatched the time
to make our marks
with sweat and
firm commitments.

The stains on stolen sheets
proved easier to erase
than those she ground into
the fabric of my room,

I watched as
traces of our time
together
turned the water dark.

What went so wrong in your life
to justify taking what is not yours?
If you sincerely needed help and took the time to ask,
help would come. But you insist on strife.
It is you that I truly abhor.
You insist upon waging war
and I can assure that I am eager for battle.
But I promise you, and it is such an easy task,
return my property, my wings, my joy and
your life may be restored. A full pardon.
You are depraved, odious, and vile
are you ready to fight?

There's a body in the trunk
I tell the policeman
and he steps back, hands up
in the face of an invisible gun.

I'm allergic to you
I tell the boy,
because acting crazy is
the only way to make him leave.

I love another
I say to the man,
creeping fingers insistent
against soft skin.

I ******* hate you
I shout at strangers,
wicked words are unwelcome
and their desperation chokes.

I've got chlamydia
I tell another
and he vanishes,
it's my very best trick.

I did not want this
I said to drunken man,
do not look at me, those starving eyes,
you've already consumed me whole.

There's a body in the trunk
I whisper to the policeman
but he does not see it as I see it,
the empty cavern that yawns wide.

He tells me lying is a sin,
sternly pulls down whatever's left
"be a good girl" he sings so sweetly
but does not condemn what was theft.

You stole my heart...
.....But not my dreams..
....I am bent....
......but I am not broken...
......I am hurt....
.....but I am healing....
You may have damaged me....
But I am strong enough to take
The beatings
I am be forgotten...
But I am never lost.

Here is the word I
would place alongside myself.
A neon placard, no
hesitation.
An ugly-shiny presence within
the confines of my breath, the
whispers in my hair.

Bittersweet.

I split it open into near-perfection like
two halves of a peach or
two sides of a brain.
Right, left,
right -
I don't even like peaches.
But I offer them to you.

My 'sweet' is a sucker-punch candy on
your tongue, you confess. Like
licked-off icing, 100%
perfect.
You love it. You love her.
But it's only half of -

The 'bitter' I hand over, all
slap-dashed with hurt and
hope that
maybe finally
you'll be that boy who holds the glue to
put me back together.
Pick up
the halves of the half that
stop
your tongue and
put me back together again.
Would you do that?
Of course you
don't.

It's okay.

You cannot, I cannot deny,
the 'bitter' is grinding, grating,
binding
and I don't tell you that
I'm tired.
So tired
of pouring sugar on it,
with my hands all out of breath. Pouring
sugar
that's only stolen.

the day i met you your voice sounded like charcoal and you told me mine sounded like cotton candy
antithesis was a constant
you watered the dying flowers that were growing along my back and
the delicacy
and grace with which you walked
reminded me of your fingertips that blessed the lilacs
the first time i saw you cry something grew inside of me
it wasn't darkness and it didn't hurt
it didn't make me want to scratch away at my insides
it was harmony  
and i sang to you on the phone while we fell asleep and you took my voice to cherish
and i bandaged your hands
i cleaned up the blood
and i held you in my own but i
didn't know mine would break soon too
and I didn't know you'd be the one to break them
so you took my hands
i gave you my skin when you said it smothered your sadness
you traced sunsets and a birdsong along my ridges and valleys
and i closed my eyes and your fingers became a part of me
you took my skin too.
sometimes you looked at me and you shook your head in awe
and you took my face in your hands and said i was so beautiful
but I didn't know what beautiful meant until you cried
you took my face too.
and you sang to me at night and i learned to fall asleep to the paradox of tears and happiness that played in your symphony
and your voice became the antidote and I wasn't scared to fall asleep anymore
you took my ears too.
and you stole
you stole all these things from me
peace doesn't exist inside of me anymore
the lilacs drowned in my tears and you took those too
i think you gave them away like you gave parts of me away
and I don't know who they belong to
but there's one thing you didn't take
and it was the only thing i wanted you to have forever

love

I satisfy myself in to this darkness that I have fallen into.

And I feel I am lost in a trance of despaired dance.

Never to grasp a part of me. All because I have lost an important slice of me.