Sometimes I just wanna be embraced
so deeply
that I forget all my mistakes.
Handle me with caution,
for I may break.
On the verge of collapse
my stability is at stake.
Be gentle, I am tender
In your arms, my body will flake.

Stop straight hug me.
Love me like oil spilt on the street.  
Slide me up into you,
And drink my lips like midnight.
**** me softly,
Love me drear,
Glide me down from here.
*******,
Shh me,
Cradle me to bed,
Lullaby me in my head
When you’ve left and gone.
Ruffle me with your wind.
Darken me down with your up-
Over me presence
Looking down at silence
And open and space and still
And thrill.
Get me gone in you.
Drill me down with you.
Kiss me drear,
Fog me up,
Crack me down like a ***.
Dip me river,
Flower me feed and love,
Like a stop straight hug me love me,
Like an oil spilt, midnight lip-ed shhhhh.

He's out there right now,
In some other place,
Another street or city or state,
Another girl's bed or another guy's couch,
Wondering what he's missing.

She's out there waiting,
Drinking coffee or tea,
Or iced ***** Gimlets,
Poetry tattooed across her arm,
Needy hearts drawn across her notebook.

You'll meet at a bar,
Lonely souls craving contact,
Awkward hellos and quiet flirtations,
Free drinks from him and a phone number from her,
Your wedding is next fall.

I've run my fingers over the faces
of many men
Touching, yes, but trying so hard to feel
With my own numb heart
It is calloused from use, yes,
but no less tender
So I reach out my hands
And run my fingers over countless faces
As I try to feel again

Ten fingers
went to tend her
garden of buttons:

The right hand kisses cheeks
with Mr. **** and then greets
The Twins with a tender twist,
as the **** on the door when

He comes,
and we lay atop each
other to be a team—of beams
of light strobing across some sheets
of ice, maybe—with steadily raised stats

I've asked myself why my scarred heart still beats.

Why, after long neglect, does the blood flow through it, still giving me life.

It's been shelved for so long, dusted on special occasions, evidenced only by the embellishment of a smile.

Sworn upon the moon's promise of a morrow, to never gain momentum within me.

Until one night, you entered in, and placed upon my cheek the sweetest nectar imaginable - tender kisses.

I live again.

You think you know how to set my heart alight.
Darling I can't help that I'm made of paper.
Any little thing can make me tear or burn.
I feel it all. Nothing is small.

I woke up one day
The end of my bed,
A jewelry box
Pink as the ribbon they used to represent her;
I traced over her disappearing fingertips
The rim of the box clicked open,
It clicked to life
The music tickling my ears;
A plastic ballerina stands as a guardian
Hands in the air
Waiting for someone to join her,
Twirling around like my eyes that follow her,
To see we are all alone