you burned down
like the end of a cigarette
singed my fingers
with your flame
but you died out
with every breath I took of you
and left me with only ashes
to show for it

You were afraid to let me in
Into the dark caverns of your mind
The spaces you've been ashamed of
The places you've been told to hide
I wandered precariously in
Took my time with every step
Careful not to disturb the littered ground
And ran my fingers along the rocky walls
Took long breaths of you
And sensed all pain and heartbreak
Pierce through my thin skin
Frightened, I faltered and stepped back

But once the walls were illuminated
I discovered the complex depths of you
The nooks and crannies of your heart
The things you've always held so close
Felt them as if they were my own
Pouring through my own hidden spaces
And it occurred to me in that very moment
How I've never loved you more.

You could never really look at
The color yellow the same
Because she put in it poems
And wore it against her shoulders

You found in the way she smiled
Or the noise she made when she laughed
It burst through the times she cried
Swam in her crocodile tears

It settled on her furniture in pillows
And moved through her bones in daylight
But reflected in her eyes in the nighttime
Cartwheeled on her eyelashes

She exhaled it in between sheets
And whispered it against your ear
It warmed her hands as they touched you
Engulfed her soft fingertips

You found it in her curled hair
Or the freckles on her arched back
It hung on her pink plump lips
Vibrated in her velvety kisses

It patterned the dresses she wore
And painted the tips of her toes
But tickled the nape of her neck
Danced on her tanned skin

She held it tightly in her chest
And you felt it when you held her close
It hummed against your own
Consumed her entire body

You could never really look at
The color yellow the same
Because she put it in poems
And all it ever did
Was remind you of her

i put the sketches
that god created of us
side by side
and i had trouble
finding where you began
and i ended
as if he moved quickly from me
thick lined and stubborn
to you
graceful and tender
we bled together
our outlines taking coarse shape
two halves
of the same whole
cosmically joined together
like distant stars
flashing the same tone
of light
against
the dark abyss

my cup was always half empty
and yearned to be filled
by someone who would stay
other boys filled it up
but always tended to get thirsty
and drank me
until there wasn’t a drop left
i was left bone dry
to slowly fill myself
back up
and up
and up
and up

but then you came
and poured
and poured
and poured
until my cup over-flowed

You laid out crisp white towels
All over the cold tile floor
Our very own continent of ice
Antarctica in the kitchen

You had drawn the blinds
Over the plane glass windows
Our very own prison for two
Alcatraz in the suburbs

You pressed your hands together
Gripping sharp words between them
Your very own brandished knives
Weapons of great power

You dressed in a plastic suit
Preparing for the blood bath ahead
Your very own contained quarantine
Shields of polyethylene

You spoke the words
Cutting me right down the middle
My very own personal mitosis
Annihilation in the suburbs

You stood looming over me
Finishing the messy job
My very own ****** scene
Homicide in the kitchen

you came rolling in like thunder

with your lips parted and wet

like the leaves on the trees

even hours after it has rained



a hurricane

of the greatest proportion