Lately
I don’t feel close
to poetry.

It feels elusive.
Unfamiliar.
Once it spoke to me.
But now it’s mute.

It sits back
and doesn’t look
at me.

If I call out
it doesn’t hear.

Lately poetry is
like that demon
I used to want
to reappear.

The poet lives two lives.
One on the outside,
And one in their mind.

When you look in their eyes
You could see an abyss.

If you looked long enough
You could sink into it.

But most people don’t see it.

Take the time to read the words, though,
And you would know for sure.

The poet lives in two different worlds.

I mean I want you in a way
that means I want everything

I want to devour you
until I become you
I want to savor
every sweet and bitter
and light and dark
part of you
until I know every secret
you would share with me

I dont want to rush into you
I want to take it slow and easy
I want to spend an eternity
exploring and discovering
all the curves and mounds
of skin and muscle and bone

I want to learn every word
of every hope
and wish
and prayer
you carry in your blood by heart

I want to know every song
that makes you smile
every poem that makes you weep
every book that has changed you

I want to know all of the history
that made you who you are today
and all the dreams and hopes
of who you want to be tomorrow

I want to be part of the kiss
that makes your heart supernova
and then be pulled into the gravity
of the center of darkness left behind
and then relight the fires
of your still warm heart
and watch it grow
and burn brighter
and bigger than before

I want to be part of the journey
you are on to a better self
and learn how to become
a better me as I travel by your side

I want to be devoured
by your eyes
and let you split open my gut
and let all my lies
and truths spill out
leaving nothing hidden

I want to show you every thing
I have carried in my heart
I want you to know every scar
and broken piece of it  
I want to learn and teach you
the name of every star in the sky

I want to read you every poem
that has made me feel
there must be something more
to inhaling and exhaling
than just living and dying

I want to cry in front of you
as I read the favorite part
of my favorite book

I want you to know more about me
than I know about myself

I want to give you the map
and the key
and the bed
of my heart and my soul

I want to be everything you need
whenever you need it
I want you to know
how horribly and painfully
shy I am
and that for you
I want to be brave
I am willing to be brave
and I have never
been able to be brave before

I am willing to break for you
I am willing to cry over you
I am ready to stop hiding from
and neglecting my feelings of love

I am willing to give it away
and risk not getting it back

because when I say I want you
I mean I love you
and when I say I love you
I mean I want to give you
all of my life

whatever I have left
in my heart

I want to spend it on you

and if you don’t want me

thats okay
you’ve already given me more
than I ever would have asked for
and more than i ever
would have deserved

There is a moon
over Tennessee
and it is killing me
with its soft
moon light red lips
and don't you wish
you were here hips
her dark eyes telling stories
from the west side
of the tracks

if it isn't magic
that she makes
from her fingertips
out of the nothing
in the night air
then it must be love
she sculpts out
of these small moments
of eternity

the moments she shapes
into stars that shine
with flames of poetry
close enough to read
but just out of reach
never to be held
never to be touched

there in the sky
they hang
and they sing
with that moon

that moon over Tennessee
that moon
that is killing me