Alight, I burn
Bright and fast
I writhe I melt
In paralyzing stillness
Restless with fever and wanting
A chill so deep
Eating me alive
It twists and turns
And breathes and cries
Threatening to burst at the seams
The bitter pill
If only as the sun sets
Ushers in the darkness
A twisting of the senses
To fix it break it solve it stop it
Alive in my stupor
Watching the sting
My soul numb
Limbs weak
Thoughts racing through my mind
No clear winner
For now
As alight, I burn
A silence thickly understood
Wading through unspoken truths
Soaked
A detail explained until blue in the face
Deafeningly silent. Pregnant. Full to bursting with disregarded denied thoughts
Screaming tearing at the seams
Notice me pick me love me move me save me
Beneath
Unworthy of attention
Care less
A caress laden with pity
The acidic touch leaving me rotting
Cast aside
I quit
come and run away with me
let’s rearrange the alphabet
and swing from tree to tree
this world is yours and mine and ours
let’s all of us get lost
Manipulative and self-obsessed
All I want to talk about is you
—
dear sir there’s something too true
i can’t quite put to words
brightest reds and deepest blues
they all come back for thirds
—
you seem to look right through me
lost in magic on the other side
apathetic to the point of poetry
delicate dance upon the blade of a knife
—
dance, dance out of those shadows,
that prison, that church, your mind
dance, dance into the twilight, and tell me that you’re mine
the other side of the bed
is where i keep my heart and my dreams
and my bag and my keys
when you’re gone
my heart on my sleeve
of the sweater i wore earlier
lay there as well
feeble cableknit weight
attempts to occupy the void
i dream of sprawling
using the space
but i stay on my side
leave room for phantom heartache
my thread count matched by memories
counting sheep
counting excuses
waiting
forget a companion
any other would find too hot, too near, too far
an unsuitable cotton environment
i miss you,
down to my linens
Sing, Little Bird 