i never heard nails
on chalkboards
i was never annoyed by
the clock ticking
i never felt rain softly
only CRASHING

i like the rain
i like the pouring
i like the rhythm
perfect//gross
neat//wrong

writer's block
to someone with
a pen for a liver
just means, shorter

just means
i don't care
how many lines

just means
maybe i need

another line

im gonna write this poem i promise

the strings inside her were broken
torn

the threads were bare,
loosely wrapped in plastic

cheap

we couldn't repair her
they said just... just replace her

throw her away
like the ones before

but how

she saved me
through the winter months

guided me
through the humidity

replace her?

"she stopped working"
"give it up"

"this one will fit nicely!"
"don't you want to be full?"

i don't like stores

you make me feel like genesis
i'm eve, and you're adam
our tongues twisted up
in dark temptation
like the name of your cologne

do you like when i tease you?
leaving deep bruises
on your neck
for the world to see?
mine, mine, mine

i scream into your ear
and you pull my hair harder
just before releasing
you say, "i love you"
as you ***

what the **** is a love poem?
poetry is your skin
freckled up and down
but stopping at the shoulders,
halting eternally

our forever is speckled
across your pale stomach
our always is rushing
through your perfect veins
flooding your system

love poems are the words
you spit frequently
passionately, and honestly
blowing them out
like o's, o's, o's

love poems are repetition
but different
"i love you" manifested physically
my hands wet from tears
washed off your cheeks

are you feeling okay?
since i've been yours,
i am whole, complete, full
of love that drips
down my wrists

not blood, but you are mine
yes blood, she is ours
do you melt in my arms
or do i melt in yours
first?

simultaneously, we pour out
our concrete breaths,
heavenly and madly at once
like the love poems
you write upon my lips

we take up space
and fill our lungs
with water, like
children, choking,
under gravity

when we walked
to the edge
did we plan
on sinking?
or swimming?

interstellar plans
took us far from home
but in the end,
i think this is where
we always belonged

with nails scratching deep beneath the skin,
i wonder if a dermatologist could fix damage this deep,
what if the blood never stops running?
i am going dry,
dry with empty lungs and nostrils filled white
and red
all of it turns red, around, breathing
exhaling, a fake apology

she calls it quits,
and i blame myself
blame myself
blame myself
and lose track of rhyme schemes
and syllables
until all i hear is me screaming no
and them painting blame over my face
"it's your fault, yours"

this is what it takes
to say "it's all okay"
a needle here, and a pill there
this is what it takes
to breathe
your love, your kiss
penetrating past the willow trees
deeper than the purple dashes

dark clouds don't go away
they just move
but when i see your face,
i don't want to leave this place
behind
i want to jump into it
with everything
into every city
that your smile
could light up

silver tears, tears, tears
and red shows, shows, shows
and the pink never comes
and black drenches
and yellow cries (fake)
grey brightens
and your eyes, green,
keep me alive

i counted them out
but there weren't enough
reasons to take more,
more like the number of
metaphors in that line

lightning bolts don't hurt
when you're paralyzed

stars twinkled around me
until i had to notice them
until i had to open my eyes

they breathed across my skin
and planted themselves
deep inside my aching chest

i was filled with their light;
i took the leap upwards-
a journey in the celestial sea

i lost myself in the eyes
of jupiter, venus, and mars
freckling my skin like dice

the constellations drove
in donuts, around the sea
pouring themselves out

space was everything
space was always there
in waves of varying gravity

i rode asteroids into
six different shooting stars
until i held the world

the cosmic microwave
filled me to the brim
with it's premordial sound