We must live in a zoo
The way that you do
Cry Crocodile tears
Always on cue

As you Monkey around
With every guy in town
Slick as a Snake
With the decisions you make

Craning my neck
Like the tallest Giraffe
As my  Elephant mind
Never forgets

And when I bring it up
Say that I've had enough
You scream in my face
Like a wild Whooping Crane

Are you serious
Says this Laughing Hyena
I can't take it no more
Like a Lion I roar

It's hard to keep up
With you Miss Cheetah
Thick skin I have grown
Like a Rhino

I'm tired of your lies
This Owl's become wise
Now that I think of it
This all seems to fit

So I'll see you later
Alligator
It's too hard to cage you
I'm outta this Zoo

There is a storm
gathering in
            my womb
soon to explode
into a thousand
crimson stars
lighting up
my veins with fire
and unraveling
deep-set,
          knotted scars
and the gentle rage
outside my window
presses on, inside my head
as I lie here,
my thoughts twisted
in a cozy, yet empty bed
my thoughts unfurl
in misty haze
           curl into
                      smoky
                 rouge
as nightsky thunder rolls
into creamed saxophone
                          deluge
the snare drum beats
in firelight
ripple sheets
in silky flutter
as my fingers strum
my womanly instruments
into loamy, primal butter
my voice in quiet utterance
as the heavens open
           to heavy rains
                    that liquefy
                           my desert
                 hydrate my
           bare-soul caves
so I electrify my echoes
into fruited, crystal drips
frothing up my
cherry wine
upon these moistened,
hungry lips

Hands sweaty
Heart racing
Hope has run away
Fear crippling
Lungs gasping
Anxiety’s here to stay

Head spinning
Stomach swimming
Rational thinking dead
Need a drink
Need a pill
Need to leave my head

Chest tight
Too scared to fight
Breathing not a choice
Vision blurred
Mind impaired
Can not find my voice

I asked myself
what is your biggest fear?
I heard myself reply
my biggest fear is
to be deeply known
but not loved deeply

I never say enough each day,
   or tell you all the time;
The truth about just what you've done,
   to give me peace of mind.

So baby doll, it's time you heard,
   in case you've never knew;
My heart has found forever home,
   since finding home in you.

You've broke the binds and mended now,
   this once so shattered heart;
You focused on the smallest things,
   to set our love apart.

So this I say, my precious gem,
   in case you didn't know;
You stole my heart to make it yours,
   a long long time ago!

i have
locked myself
into a cocoon.
a shell, a
crescent moon.
wind
is battering
against the
walls, shelling
seeds into husks.
the day feels
long and this
song will
have to wait
until the sun
comes. till it
enters the
cracks
in wood
and skin and
allows me
to imagine
again how it feels
to be human.

In the shady, shallow clefts,
A ray of light doth glow,
A tender, vibrant shoot springs forth,
'Midst rocks as cold as snow.
Though winds howl the banshee's moan,
Though bitter cold doth tear;
In shadowed, forlorn cavern's mouth,
A sapling surely 'tis found there.
Though leaves and branches break in fear,
When stormy gales release their hate,
That tenacious shoot doth hold its place,
'Till storm and snow and winds abate.
Amidst the dusty cavern floor,
Though it be a shallow hold,
At last a sturdy bough springs forth,
Weathered, beaten, torn, yet bold.
And at this affront to dignity,
The winds tear forth in awesome might,
But with a mast thus strong, roots so deep,
'Tis now naught but the sapling's fight.
Though leaf and branch may flee in fright,
And scathing winds still howl in rage,
Though ice doth press amidst the storm,
There stands that tree, by strength of age.

I boxed up a year and a half today
Every photograph,
sweatshirt,
Mementos,
first date kisses
awkward hugs
A year and a half
In a box
I thought we’d outlast it all
yet I packed your stuff
and memories away in a box
I always thought
our love was too big,
too much,
too great
to simply be boxed
and stored away

You are a novel
gathering dust on my shelf
but not because I don’t want to read
but because I’m afraid
to turn the page,
afraid of how you’ll end