Saturday, October 27, 2007

Dinnertime

Dinnertime

You are not my story to tell.
Daddy just hit mommy at the dinner table
and now we’re all scrambling
for anything at all to say
to break this silence.
Action…reaction.
You slide the green beans off your plate,
I watch the dog swallow them whole.
We’ll be coughing up blood
for years to come.

Galaxy

Galaxy

Here on the bridge of uncertainty
in the very spiraling center of the universe,
you are three stars to the right
and I am living in a galaxy full,
of my fears of rejection.
Pull the swinging step,
a ladder of broken windowpanes
leading straight to Saturn,
where I will paint your eyes a million times over
to show you that I would be devoted,
for devotion does exist.
Swirling sunlight stings my bare arms,
leaving me raw as hamburger,
raw as my tender, beating heart.

Specifically – You

Specifically – You

The way her hair fell in her eyes,
fragments of a deep pupil and iris
peeking through delicate, dark curtains.
His fingers, rough-padded,
but soft upon her lily-white skin,
swirled across her cheeks,
forming the permanent blush
that lives there even now.
Electric currents between them:
they are two points on a continuous line
with no eyes but those for one another.
Arms curl around curved backs,
rounded legs and stomachs,
holding tightly to every thread of life.
Her eyes, his eyes,
they part and meet and fuse –
every motion slows.
The world turns and they
are the single spinning point
of the universe.

Falling in Love

Falling in Love


Why do they call it falling? I understand why it would come to mind when one is stumbling, crashing, tripping, fumbling into love with someone when it’s unrequited. When it hurts. When it’s wrong. When it’s ignored and left to crumble into nothingness in the cold, unfeeling Winter wind. When it’s crushed under an uncaring heel, and all you’re left with is shreds of your heart and dignity. But what of love when it’s grand? Returned. Right. Wonderful. When it’s taken in and lifted up and held close to the other’s heart and caressed tenderly by loving hands? Falling does not apply then. Floating. Flying. Soaring. Rollercoaster, excited riders bursting for the thrill. Seagulls circling, lofty upon the breeze, lighting upon the white capped ocean waves. Twirling. Spinning. All light and stars and deep-ocean-blue, golden sunshine and molten sunsets, flowers blooming from between your fingertips.

I have tasted that love, that feeling, once. Yet now, I fear it is gone forever.

Equus

Equus

Bright-eyed foal
I scratch onto ancient parchment,
hind legs kicked up,
head thrown back merrily.
This is my foal.
I’ll sketch my bridle round its nose,
take the reins into my hands to control him.
Yet, he will remain,
long after I am dust within the ground,
dark back twisted in the air,
legs thrown out towards the sky.
The white patch between his eyes
glows in the darkness.

Sweetness

Sweetness

Caught, like the mosquitoes of old
struggling in amber
til it encased them,
whole and perfect.
We are sinners in the night’s dark embrace,
fumbling with zippers and buckles,
fingers and lips and thighs.
Don’t liken sex to dinosaurs hunting –
velicoraptors stalking in their merry band
with deadly claws unsheathed and waiting,
ready to leap upon their prey.
My opinions on you
aren’t worth much more
than a child’s indecipherable scribbling
on otherwise pristine walls.
Decipher my loops, my lightning bolts,
they really mean one thing –
devotion.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Ebola

Ebola

Pull together my shattered ribs,
the shreds of muscle laying within
still beat some morbid tattoo upon my skin.
Dig your fingers in deep enough
to reach straining lungs,
failing kidneys,
weeping organs, liquefying.
Don’t stay, don’t get too near,
the end is creeping up on me –
ready to bring forth the crimson tides
from every orifice,
jerking limbs,
mouth spraying,
drenching every wall crayola red.
Everyone within this room is doomed.
Every inch of my life’s blood
is bursting, bursting
with death and virus smarter
than our scientists could ever imagine.
The nurse who lifts her scarlet-stained hand
to her mouth, in disbelief,
the doctor who wipes his eyes
leaving a mask of ruby-red,
and you – standing watch over me,
with your face and arms covered
in my sweet vein-song.
You will all meet your untimely ends
just
like
me.

Here Lies the Bride

Here Lies the Bride

Ink-stained hands wrap
around sheared-off silk,
fastened into a makeshift wedding dress –
she’ll wander down the aisle alone,
searching for a groom.
Wilted flower bouquet lays abandoned
on the molten sidewalk,
next to a Polaroid of her veiled face.
With nowhere to hide,
nowhere to transform her longing
into something tangible,
she becomes the poem.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Language Barrier

The Language Barrier

White face smudges
round my otherwise rosy lips,
a glove under my covers
or a striped scarf tied round my wrist.
The remnants of red lipstick on my pillowcase,
eyeliner smeared across my chest.
And every single morning I struggle
to release myself from this infernal
invisible box.
It’s not easy,
loving a mime.

Fingers Chasing Toes

Fingers Chasing Toes

I was seven.
My mother told me –
“swim towards the bottom,
I’ll do the rest”.
I gulped air into my lungs,
filling them to the point of bursting
and dove.
Eyes closed,
under water is a frightening place
where every second seems close to death,
at least when you’re that young.
Just when I thought I’d die for sure,
hands pushed against my back.
My eyes shot open just in time
to see the world flip,
and then I was above,
sputtering.

Ocho Rios

Ocho Rios

She draws with charcoal
on long sheets of oblivion (obsidian),
long-winged butterflies
above willowy grasses
blowing in the breeze.
Her hands move faster
than when they spin reeds into baskets
sold at the market for the lowest price
haggled for by sunburnt tourists.
When she turns her burnt face to the sun,
there is nothing but clouds,
ganja is thick in the air
from where the men sit carving elephants,
turtles, horses,
out of balsa wood.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

In Loving Memorandum

In Loving Memorandum

Flesh withers as if summer flora
killed
by Autumn’s first chill.
She was the breeze on sultry days
and all of what we shaped from clay
could not compare to her form.
Lips like bees with their constant buzzing,
eyes like caves sunken
in contrast to the marks
like ants,
crawling over the powdery blue veins
at the insides of her elbows.
When they found her
she was curled inside the bathtub
in the alleyway between Main and 43rd.
Hands like birds crashed into glass
and legs like toothpicks snapped in half
her pale visage told her tale.
We wept.
Her head we found pillowed
amid shattered TV sets,
emptied bottles clutched in deadened hands,
remnants of her last supper –
razor sharp broken needle tips,
the plunger.
When we lowered her into the earth,
her mother cried, we laughed in mirth
for never had one dead looked so at peace.
Her eyes would ever more gaze
upon the lost sun’s rays
of which she will continue to outshine.

And to dust shall we return.

A Sonnet on Death

A Sonnet on Death

I dreamt I had died in a stranger’s place
where nobody knew my name.
There wasn’t among them a familiar face,
yet they treated me just the same
as they would have one of their own,
though stranger was I to them.
They took my body into their home,
made ready the coffin then.
In lace and silk they dressed me clean,
combed my hair and smoothed my face.
Then sat they to eat a dinner so lean,
before laying me in my place.
The gravedigger dug his hole, six feet deep,
to embrace me in my eternal sleep.

Written for the Storm During Literary Studies

Written for the Storm During Literary Studies

Raindrops caress parched dirt
where every blade of grass
yearns upwards, sighing
in the sudden onslaught of moisture.
I sit, trapped, behind fluorescent bars,
longing for the freedom storms bring.
Lightning dance ‘cross my eyelids,
like a pelican skimming ocean waves.
Outside thunder roars,
inside my mind turns to Yeats,
word definitions,
discord of booming professor’s voice,
student feedback.
My heart numbs but every beat screams for you.

Fakes

Fakes

Let’s raise our glasses,
a solemn toast to mediocrity
no vintage glamour glitter rock star
here.
Leather cracks, hairlines recede,
and all your records fall into obscurity.
How much would you dish out
for your fabled fifteen minutes of fame?
Sacrifice vocal chords, eyesight,
bone structure,
and all the love ever known.
Become that vision of lust and longing,
poster-pinup child material
for a teeny-bopper’s photo wall.
False perfection.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Chasm

Chasm

I cannot breathe as deep as the Grand Canyon
with all its valleys and hidden places,
that age-old wound
watching with its heavy-lidded eyes
ancient in its silence.
This between us is no blank canvas –
bloodied fingers, buckled legs, cold eyes
and you refuse to see past.
Paint-winged butterflies carried on the breeze
go by like carnival-coloured clouds
but every inch of sky is gray, gray, gray.
My lungs collapse.
I cannot breathe as deep as the Grand Canyon,
for never have I tried.

Developing

Developing

I can write you no sonnet,
my thoughts don’t lend themselves
to easy rhyming.
Ink-stained hands leave
charcoal-colored smudges
across this blank expanse of paper,
turning words into monochrome butterflies
chained to this pen of mine.
When it all comes down to it,
“I love you” just doesn’t cut it
it never really did.
My feelings for you are too fierce
to put down on paper –
they would shatter cave walls
destroying all art that’s come before,
leaving dust in their path.
And to dust shall we always return.

Flying

Flying

The rhythm in your skin
drowns out all reason.
“Why are we here?” it screams.
Resisting all bonds
all locks and chains,
you cannot be captured.
There is nothing left to lose
save for your plush velvet eyes,
lengthy limbs and tumultuous vocals.
Can we learn to fly without wings?

Breaking

Breaking

This is an ending, not a beginning.
You will write each poem off as just another fancy,
and I will continue furtively sending
crumpled scraps of poetry to every newspaper in town,
in my desperate attempts to finally strike gold.
I am a sunset in vivid fuchsia and turquoise,
streaking neon bright across the sky
but you, with your cracked ribs, vacant unblinking eyes,
blinding-white teeth, you are nothing.
When we fall it will be in pieces,
like a child’s puzzle torn apart.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Devour

Devour

darkness brings
raking fingernails,
bruising lips and hungry eyes
teeth that sink into pale, ivory expanses
of snow-covered hills and valleys.
When eyesight fails,
trust the rhythm of hips and heartbeats.
hands that long have dreamed on touch
find purchase, grasping folds of flesh
scorching every spot with their torrid touch.
in the night, everyone is a sinner,
slave to heaving breasts and tremulous fingers
pressing into the delicate places
between stomach and hips and thighs.
bodies arch and quiver
fingertips gliding over the smooth surfaces of skin
each shiver, each breath drawn inward by a lover with a gasp
rings divine off their forms
as they dissolve into nothingness, spent.

Splitting

Splitting

ruined lace
split apart
by the brute force of your rude, fumbling hands.
nothing is meant to stay whole anyways,
like cheap Christmas light bulbs
winking on and off and finally off forever
and fingers are twisting,
yearning for the peak, the pinnacle.
breath siphoning through squeezed lungs
don’t rush, do, don’t, do,
please, please don’t stop not even for a moment. Don’t stop
until blood cells burst
temporal lobe explodes
ribs crack open, like those of a corpse on the autopsy table.
let calves and thighs and hips and arms and shoulders and fingers and even toes feel,
feel and clench and yearn and yearn
and release, release, release
until skin is all that remains to separate;
melting away, peeling back like the skin of an orange
leaving nothing but muscle and bone and red, beating heart.

Contact

Contact
(this is a rewrite of "Untitled")

I long to be the raindrops
glistening on your skin.
The wind blows through my veins,
I’m alone again.
Stitch my eyes shut,
you’re a splendor overwhelming to behold.
Fill my hands
I need more, more, MORE.
Bring me to the edge
of the wordless,
where nothing but our primal urges
will spilt the night,
in two.
I crave the stars in utter clarity.
Wound me with your touch,
be my undoing.
This is where our eyes meet,
and this, and this, and this -
this is where I slip,
off the counter,
off the edge,
into departure of reason and sanity.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Untitled (as of yet)

I long to be the raindrops
glistening on your skin.
The wind blows through my veins,
I'm alone again.
Wishing on stars never works for me,
you see.
Stitch my eyes shut,
I'm not worthy to behold you.
Fill my hands
I need more, more, more.
You bring me to the edge of the wordless,
where nothing but our primal urges
will spilt the night in two.
I long to see the stars
in utter clarity,
I need to be wounded by your touch,
by my own undoing.
This is where our eyes meet,
and this, and this -
this is where I slip
silent,
into oblivion.

Monday, August 06, 2007

In Another Life

In Another Life

The sheets of rain against the window
remind me of your eyes,
so blue and wet like the ocean.
You used to drown me in them.
We were never as simple as an algebra problem,
leaning more towards complicated equations
things that made my head spin.
You were Romeo in doublet & tights,
I, your Juliet, in empire-waisted gown.
We were perfect right up til the end:
your cold lips and empty glass,
my blood-soaked robe and shaking hands.
In another life I loved you as I do now.
We were Cleopatra & Antony,
Edward Scissorhands and Kim,
Jack and Sally.
Doomed lovers, we are, in all our glory.
In another life,
I loved you as I do now –
obsessed, morbid,
til the bittersweet ending
curtain fall.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Human After All

Human After All

Heartbeats turn to whispered murmurs,
heaving breaths to nothing but lies.
She’s a beauty wrapped in bones and skin,
just something to keep the organs in.
Delicate hands, birdlike in their delicacy,
legs long and capable of covering miles.
Her eyes are the deepest colors of May,
just something to keep the flames at bay.
Her body is fragile and broken anew,
lying motionless beneath the autumn leaves.
Her lips are cold, blue and thin,
just something to keep her truth within.
The branches scratch the august sky,
scattering crisp leaves across the ground.
She is nothing but bones and skin,
just something to keep the organs in.
Her hands, her eyes, her body, her lips,
she is nothing but legs and hips,
the splay of her fingers
and the curve of her ribs.
She is nothing but bones, blood,
and skin.

“I Love You”

“I Love You”

Carry this with you,
place it in an unbreakable locket,
twine it ‘round your wrist
if it’s too much for your neck to handle.
Wouldn’t want to impinge upon your masculinity.
Lock it away in a safe, perhaps
where no one but you knows the code,
or better yet make it voice-activated.
Tuck it in your pocket
but don’t forget about it,
wouldn’t want it to shrink in the wash.
Or maybe you should just destroy it,
maybe its better off destroyed,
left unsaid –
rip it in half
or burn it
or refuse to take it from my trembling lips.
It means nothing,
or does it mean everything?
You were never quite sure
and now I doubt you can even handle it,
but here it is anyways.
Foolish words for a foolish man,
unworthy and unknowing.
Keep them well.

Stargirl

Stargirl

She was – black velvet,
satin & lace,
shaggy blonde hair in her eyes.
My hands found solace in hers
and my eyes were full,
but my heart was fuller.
She was saffron & dandelions,
all Spring-Summer-Fall
leaves drifting through her eyes.
I was not worthy to touch.
The curve of her hip
could have inspired Shakespearean sonnets,
and I dropped to my knees
to caress her milk-white legs,
like gleaming ivory in the pale moonlight.
For one night she was mine,
the swell of her breast
heaving with each sharp intake of air,
the feel of her knotted scars
under my fingertips.
She whispered in my ear,
“I can hear the stars,
they’re calling me home”.
When I woke, she was gone,
the spirit drained from her eyes
and the blood from her fair cheeks,
yet her hand still clutches mine.

Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale

He entrapped her easily,
with small promises
of romance & jewels
and happily-ever-after.
Little princess in her cold stone palace.
No white knight.
No faithful steed.
Just her eyes reflected in the cold steel,
as his knife flashed.
Sharp pain biting her,
burning her arms and legs and torso,
her heart slowing its beating.
She was so beautiful,
pale perfection
with her romance & jewels,
and her happily-ever-after.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Addicted (song)

Addicted

Oh no, you could never love me,
Oh no, you won’t even try.
Seven months and I’m still reeling,
your well-intentioned words still make me cry.
I know a woman should be strong,
but I’m only just learning how.
My heart is yearning to forget you,
but you’re my choice of addiction now.

I’ll never be sober,
I’ll never be right.
I know that it’s over,
I can’t help but fight.
I’m so sick of trying,
My heart’s just not tough.
I’m done with my crying,
Enough is enough.
I can’t drink you away,
(I can’t wish you away)
I can’t fly away,
I can’t fly away.

You’re not here to hold my hand,
Oh no, you never were.
You’re not near to dry my tears,
No, you’d rather be with her.
I hope she’s going to understand
when I call you late at night.
I’m still so damn addicted
but you will never be mine.

I’ll never be sober,
I’ll never be right.
I know that it’s over,
I can’t help but fight.
I’m so sick of trying,
My heart’s just not tough.
I’m done with my crying,
Enough is enough.
I can’t drink you away,
(I can’t wish you away)
I can’t fly away,
I can’t fly away.

I can’t get you out of my system,
there’s just no detox that strong.
I’m starting to realize I’ve been addicted all along,
I’ve been addicted all along.

I’ll never be sober,
I’ll never be right.
I know that it’s over,
I can’t help but fight.
I’m so sick of trying,
My heart’s just not tough.
I’m done with my crying,
Enough is enough.
I can’t drink you away,
(I can’t wish you away)
I can’t fly away,
I can’t fly away.

Friend

Friend

Forget the world we knew,
the one we once shared
before it all shattered apart,
when we were so close,
we seemed one soul.
Forget the words we whispered,
precious as vows in the darkness,
meaning nothing in the months to come.
Forget those moments
when the world didn’t exist,
when all that surrounded me
was your arms, your eyes, your lips,
yes, we were the only two people alive.
Remember that I loved you,
that I will until I die,
that every world I said to you was true
beyond the lies that separated us.
Remember that you loved me,
and your first true love never dies
even if we’ve both moved on,
even if we have separate lives.
Remember everything we shared,
every moment, every touch, every word.
We weren’t perfect
but who really could be?
We were something, once,
two hearts that beat at the same pace,
two souls that seemed sewn together
never to part.
So forget the fights,
the lonely nights,
but remember,
that we loved.

Love & Pain

Love & Pain

Pain comes hand in hand
with you,
with love.
Tears have run dry.
They will never fall.
Burnt-black eyes stare.
I am motionless,
you are gone.
Chop my heart into pieces
please feed me to your greed.
I am not broken,
you have not ripped me apart,
and I don’t need you to find me.
I was never, never,
lost.

Born Under a Wandering Star

Born Under a Wandering Star

Restless.
I am never still,
my mind continues racing
even while my body is at rest.
I am constantly in motion,
running, laughing, acting, smiling.
I can’t be still,
I cannot slow down.
My passions keep me moving
constantly, constantly.
I am a butterfly
flitting from flower to flower.
How could you clip my wings?

Monday, June 25, 2007

Love Me or Hate Me, It’s Still An Obsession

Love Me or Hate Me, It’s Still An Obsession

Look past my bitten-up fingernails,
my well-painted façade
I put on, brand-new, shiny,
each and every morning.
Can you see my soul inside?
Sometimes it’s just a glimmer,
one little shining star
in the midst of ink-black, velvety night.
So please believe me,
when I say “I live to let you shine”
quoting blasé song lyrics
because I’m afraid to tell you how I really feel.
We’re two different people now,
I fear you won’t recognize me,
my dark, angst-ridden eyes
my lips parted, ready
to tell you anything you want to hear.
No, that’s how I was.
Once.

A Student in Japan

A Student in Japan

Oh, to be a student in Japan
in Spring when the cherry blossoms fall.
To skip down walkways strewn with the flowers,
hair blowing in the Jasmine-scented wind.
To twirl my parasol like the white-faced geisha,
tottering around on their training heels,
the men following them in droves.
A true geisha can stop a man with one look,
but could I, if I were a plaid-skirted student,
in Japan in the springtime?

“And now our bodies are the guilty ones…”

“And now our bodies are the guilty ones…”

My love, our hands are sinners,
we commit lust with our guilty lips
each time we press them together.
Our touch fills the dark and silence,
our hearts too large for us to contain.
You are my sin, my condemnation,
the guilt I love so well.

Butterfly Away

Butterfly Away

Oh to be a butterfly,
spread my wings and learn to soar
if only for a few minutes,
even an hour.
I’m locked up in the remainders of your love,
please, set me free.

Blue Wind

Blue Wind

You’re no solitary blue wind
I swear I’m here with you,
so why are you going through withdrawal?
Your hands shake
I wrap myself in them for warmth,
your cheek against mine
will remind me I’m still alive.
Don’t you see?
It’s not too late.

Destruct

Destruct

Your face is pale in the fluorescent light,
my words are a gun to your heart
my well-intentioned mind has pulled the trigger.
I’m so sorry your life hasn’t turned out quite right,
but you can’t just scream at the moon
it doesn’t have any answers for you.
I’m shattered, I can’t give you any advice
so why even ask?
You’re living a role, my friend,
I can’t break you out
of this prison you’ve built for yourself.
Have you sold your soul to your inner demons
or can I somehow save you?

Breakdown City

Breakdown City

She’s living in a Breakdown City,
nothing but heartache
and stale lovers,
the air too fresh
like her wounds,
to combat her shaking sense
of self-worth.
Who are you and why can’t you save me?

Break It Down

Break It Down

I knew you once
so intimately it seemed
you were a part of my soul,
like you were my heartbeat,
my footsteps,
and I was your breath,
slow and steady,
involuntary,
so necessary,
always the same
day in and day out.
Well, who are we now?
Two separate sets of lungs
and hands and lips,
two very different hearts
that no longer beat in sync.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Don’t Break Me

Don’t Break Me

I need you like a needle needs a vein.
Can’t you hear my blood sing for you?
You’re every note and each new register
that my voice strives to reach,
every fervent waking acid-trip dream
and every single sunrise.
You’re in the sound of goodbye
and hello,
but mostly in the sounds of ‘I love you’s.
You’re my lighthouse beacon
shining in the night,
clearing away the cobwebs of self-doubt.
Can’t you hear the pain laced into my voice
when every word is screaming,
screaming, screaming for you.
My heart is solidly in your hands,
beating to the tune of your sweet nothings.
Don’t break it.
Don’t break me.

Heart & Soul

Heart & Soul

I hate being helpless,
but I love how you make me feel.
I guess I’m just full of contradictions.
And I know love is a losing game,
you’re trying your valiant best
to keep me from tripping,
slipping,
falling head over heels
in love with you
but it is all in vain.
I am already yours completely,
heart & soul.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Til Death Do Us Part

Til Death Do Us Part

Your eyes are darker than the night sky,
I’m grasping for excuses not to cry
I feel my soul start slipping by
but I refuse to let myself be taken
my faith in you just can’t be shaken.

If words can fly where do they go?
In another world we’d already know.
This roundabout I’m stuck driving in
circles forever and I’m sinking in.
Don’t let me go now we’ll dive right in,
keep your fingers crossed
not all our hope is lost.

Your hands are all that keep me
from the abyss that is the sea
it’s reaching out to me
I won’t be captured by its charms
I’m only captive in your arms.

If words can fly where do they go?
In another world we’d already know.
This roundabout I’m stuck driving in
circles forever and I’m sinking in.
Don’t let me go now we’ll dive right in,
keep your fingers crossed
not all our hope is lost.

Make me believe in everything you say,
make me believe in a much brighter day.
I’m looking up at the sky
the stars make me want to cry,
because you’ll never be here by my side.

If words can fly where do they go?
And do we already know?
Are we too scared to show it?
This roundabout I’m stuck driving in
circles forever and it’s such a sin,
I can’t stop myself from sinking in,
well don’t let go we’ll dive right in.
Keep those fingers crossed,
now all our hope is lost.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Introspective 1

1. I crave introspection, a look inside myself might reveal the spot where you cracked open my ribs and stole my heart away but it might also show my shriveled pride and dying sense of self-worth. I’m a cartoon cut-out paper doll trying to make a name for myself in this oversized 3D world. When I die I want a Death Day party, loud music and party favors. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

2. You threw me up against the wall. I cracked my head and slipped away into Neverland and I fear I’ll never return but I love the colors so I think I’ll be okay.

3. Moon and stars, sun, clouds, sky, water. I swim through the ocean, I feel the sand between my toes, my eyes are burning in the sunlight. You took my hand and tore my smile but you’re still the one I love deep inside.

4. It’s a beautiful day. We’ll lay outside and feel the grass on our backs and make wishes on clouds that pass us by.

5. We sit around and try to rhyme “orange”, wracking our brains but coming up with nothing. Exasperated, we give up on poetry and write love letters instead.

6. I lon to fly like the hawks that circle lazily in the sky high above my head. Alas, my rooftop is too low and my paper-mache skills too underdeveloped.

7. The sound of Heaven is not of bells chiming or a Hallelujah chorus. To me, the sound of Heaven is your voice whispering sweet nothings in my ear and never stopping. Eternity.

8. May we stay young and semi-innocent forever with our eyes on the stars and our lips spilling praise for our lovers till we can speak no more from throats torn apart with unbridled lust.

9. To me you are a child, wide-eyed and innocent, reaching for me to hold me close and steal my warmth. In your eyes I am heroin, your addiction and your lust, your downfall, but you cannot let me go and I cannot let you down.

10. I will stalk you in the night like a werewolf hunting at full moon. When you run from me, I will pursue you but I will let you run just ahead of me forever.

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Petals unfurl into starlight
lighting worlds formed in darkness.
In the underbelly of the world
we are red-eyed demon children,
clinging to the hopes of a love reborn.
Can’t you see this world is dying?
We shatter all our bones
but keep our minds intact,
ripe for the plundering.
They rip our thoughts from our fingertips
while we stand by and watch,
our lips silent and our eyes vacant.
Will you always be silenced?
Nothing but Hell’s minions
slaves to lace trimmed lust,
we all fall down.

Wilting Roses

Wilting Roses

The night burns bright in your eyes, so dark,
they reflect it back like fire.
I burned all my memories
till there was nothing but ashes,
an entire funeral pyre
disintegrating in the noonday sun,
but your face remains engraved in my cerebrum.
No amount of acid could burn away
the memory of your touch, your kiss.
I am nothing but a sailboat
set adrift upon a stormy sea.
Without you here to tether me,
I am but a shadow, a glimmer of what I once was.
I am wilting roses,
petals floating on summer breezes.
Children gather flowers,
ignoring the blood that streams
as the thorns tear apart their skin,
I am gone.

Magic Realism

Magic Realism

If you dream of me I will appear,
soft-edged as if a dream.
Forget to believe in me I will fade away,
shimmering and glittering as if a cloud of dust.
Even though I only die in your dreams,
my body will cease to exist,
you know I will be no more.
When I am gone,
bury me in your backyard
and plant a seed above my body.
Once it takes root I will come back to you,
growing strong, leafy, and green,
an oak tree to watch over you forever.
I am the ocean in which you swim,
my legs the sand between your toes.
I melt through your fingers
for we can never be.
I am nothing but an endless acid trip.

Rehab

Rehab

Her bandaged arms are thin and weak
below her rolled-up shirt-sleeves.
Her lips tremble when she speaks,
“these scars help me feel alive”.
In this cold, clinical room
where her only friends are metal folding chairs,
a beautiful young girl is reclaiming herself.
She lost it once, to a boy with soft kisses,
who held her close and whispered
“I will always love you”
but never meant it.
She lost it again, to a bottle of booze,
a handful of pills and a hospital stay,
her mother crying and her father walking away.
But it was the third time she lost it,
that landed her here,
in between the girl who never talks
and the boy who screams at night.
She took the razor to her fragile wrists,
leaving behind nothing but blood-stained bathroom tiles,
a tear-stained note crumpled in her hand.
Her father cried the entire time
as he carried her the three blocks to the hospital.
But now she is finally recapturing her hope,
with every word she chooses so carefully
“I don’t want to hurt anymore”.
She is too thin, too scared,
her hands shake but it’s just the drugs,
she’s crying.
They don’t understand, they never could,
and once they’ve all gone,
she is left dropping tears on the tiled floor.
And in the morning she’ll be gone.

Affair with the Vampire

Affair with the Vampire

Anne Rice never dreamt of this,
you slide your fangs out as we kiss.
My pulse, it quickens, but I am still,
your lips find my neck, I know they will.
I close my eyes as I slip away,
my flowing blood keeps words at bay.
You draw my life in through your teeth,
I feel myself drift off to sleep.
You’ll be beside me when I wake,
I’ll be hungry to replace what you take.
Your veins pulse below my fingertips,
You cry out when I bite your lips.
We lose ourselves in this vampiric love of ours,
I lie back and I thank the stars.

Moon Child

Moon Child

I shall not swear my love for you,
not by the moon,
for the moon is fickle and ever-changing.
She is never whole for long,
but my love is.
I love you complete,
every fiber of skin,
every blink of your eyelid,
each step that you take
leading you closer to me.
But, you see, I am the incomplete one,
I am the moon,
ever-changing, ever-leaving,
fickle as the silver reflection of the sun.

As You Sleep

As You Sleep

I watch you while you sleep,
eyelids fluttering softy
against your soft pale cheeks,
breath coming in small gasps.
When I’ve got your arms wrapped around me,
your face pressed gently into the curve of my neck,
I sleep sound.

Eternal

Eternal

For love is as strong as death,
and just as permananet.
Your love was like a seal on my heart,
I’ve finally broken free.
Look, I have found my wings,
they were right at my fingertips every single time,
though I never realized.
Smile love, my former love,
for friendship binds me to you
and love binds me to you,
our hearts were once connected
and still, our souls are.
We are eternal, my once love,
eternal.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Illuminata

Illuminata

Love enduring over time,
your memories serve me well
but don’t begin to compare.
You complete my dreams
I cannot get around you,
over you.
I cannot change to fit you,
I am always changing to fit me.
You still want me
despite my imperfections,
my overreacting doesn’t throw you off,
you find my helplessness attractive.
You feed my hunger,
feed my lust.
I cannot breathe without knowing
you are breathing the same elsewhere.
I am not perfect,
I am so flawed,
but if you are looking for someone
to love you imperfectly,
I am here.
Look no further.

Early Morning on the Upper East Side

Early Morning on the Upper East Side

Wind kicks up
sending swirls of leaves
fluttering about the sidewalk,
like many winged butterflies
leaving the ground.
8 AM is not too early
to spill your guts across the asphalt,
rotten bloody entrails
baking in the hot morning sun.
It’s not too early
for the St John’s schoolgirls,
readjusting their skirts in dark alleyways,
sending their suitors on their ways.
It is not too late
to roll up your stockings,
tie your shoelaces,
and make it to class on time.
The girls sidestep to avoid the pile,
stinking meat decomposing in the street,
yanking on their sweatshirts
trying to salvage their reputations.
The leaves settle outside the classroom windows,
under the baleful watch of prep-school boys
longing for the busty young women
who wink coquettishly upwards,
their plaid skirts swinging in the breeze.
The boys cover their laps with textbooks,
and the teacher drones on and on.

Torturous

Torturous

Days pass by,
an eternity,
torture,
self-doubt.
I feel you,
as if you were just behind me
your breath on my neck.
I’m drowning under this weight
of keeping everything I feel for you
locked up so tight inside.
You could be the one
and that scares me.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Sell Yourself

Sell Yourself

Sell yourself for newfound fame,
cheap lace and vicarious thrills.
Your body is his plaything
and you want it more than anything.
Give in, let the wave sweep you away.
This is all you’ve ever wanted, ever needed,
your naked curves on display
for all the world to see.
Sell yourself for newfound fame,
perhaps you’ll get it.
Your big break,
your 15 minutes,
all yours if you sell yourself
for the sake of your art.

We Are Alive

We Are Alive

There is only now,
so scream your lungs out
because tomorrow the chance may be gone.
Give your heart out
because who needs it anyways?
Cry, laugh, live, love,
smile,
run your fingers through my hair.
All it not lost.
We are alive.

The Terrible Truth

The Terrible Truth

Your mind a labyrinth,
your eyes an ocean.
No two people are alike.
My mind’s a disaster,
my eyes – abyss.
No two snowflakes are alike.
The winter came, cold and hard,
destroying everything we felt,
turning my heart to unfeeling stone.
No two people are alike.
You pushed me away
but still I clung feverishly to hope,
my heart beating in time with yours in the darkness.
No two moments are alike.
Your lips on mine,
our hips pressed together fervently,
your hand on my leg,
your arms around me.
You held me close once.
I strain for the day you will again.
No two moments are alike.

Within Your Arms

Within Your Arms

I don’t have all the answers.
The universe is still an open book to me,
though written in some language
I cant quite understand.
Your eyes contain multitudes,
entire cities trapped within
their inky depths.
I could get lost in that maze
of street signs and highways,
full of directions leading me
directly to your heart.
You read me like a map,
how did you get inside my brain?
You’re living in the spaces between,
pulling me in so easily.
I’m not so easy to capture
like some beautiful butterfly
you’d pin to your wall.
I have wings, I need to fly,
and yet you make me
want to forsake all the sky
and breathe forever
within your arms.

Over My Head

Over My Head

I am in over my head,
my mind is spitting out Polaroids
of everything we ever did.
I remember your hand on my hip,
your lips on my lips,
your teeth in my neck
and your tongue on my thigh.
Every word you ever spoke,
every moan from your lips
and every time you laid a hand on me,
I am transfixed.
You are always on my mind,
I’m such a nervous wreck,
and for some odd reason
I like it.

Bittersweet Revelry

Bittersweet Revelry

Sheathed in jade green silk,
her eyes aflame,
hair cascading
like soft waves on desolate beaches,
she twirls in circles
through the graying fields of midnight.
Why are the wood nymphs feasting?
Their honey-eyes are glazed,
nimble fingers wrapped
round the rough-barked trunks
of the ancient Oak trees of the meadow.
The air is resplendent with sounds of wonder,
exploding in the night sky.
She twirls in circles,
through the moonlit fields of midnight,
past the wood nymphs’ revelry.
There are tears glistening in her almond eyes
but her head is held high,
and she twirls on through the night.

Visions & Insecurities

Visions & Insecurities

It feels like I’m wearing a disguise,
every time he looks at me with those eyes.
I’m so afraid that he isn’t real,
and even more afraid of what I feel.
Is he simply just a vision?
Could he really be flesh and blood, living?
Sometimes I think this all just can’t be.
Why would he ever choose me?

Goodbye

Goodbye

Her eyes are wide,
all-knowing and all-seeing.
He swung a rope around the moon,
she wrapped it around her wrist
to keep the light in,
even when the darkness surrounded them both.
They were content just to lie there,
to breathe in sync with shooting stars
and feel the wind upon their cheeks.
His eyes are dark and hers are bright,
he is the moon but she is the sun
burning brighter than anything else in his world,
and all he can do is reflect love back at her.
She twines her fingers with his,
tears rolling down her face
as she whispers “I love you”
one last time.

Womankind

Womankind

Don’t be fooled by what you see,
there is so much more to me.
I am not just a pretty face
please see past my looks, my race.
There is a sadness here in my eyes,
for I can hear all my sisters’ cries.
I hear them in the distant places,
wordless cries from formless faces.
I hear my sisters dying of disease,
I hear my sisters forced to their knees.
I hear you sister, as he pins you down,
I hear you sister, as you hit the ground.
I hear you sisters, from beneath your veils,
I hear you sisters, as your vision fails.
I hear my sisters crying out for change,
I hear my sisters as we are silenced again.
I hear you sisters even if no one else can.
I hear you sisters, I hear you say “I am”.
I am not your possession,
I am not your slave.
I am not your ticket to Heaven,
nor your salvation from the grave.
I am my own person,
I am not yours to play.
I will not be silenced,
yes, I am here to stay.

Broken Wings

Broken Wings

I was a mourning dove,
cooing at the moon
with my broken wings,
longing for the sky.
You were whispering lies in my ears,
“you cannot fly,
you’ll never leave the ground”.
I let your words shackle me down,
let you keep me as your plaything
in a cage made not of bars and glass,
but of my own insecurities.
You thought my wanting to leave the earth
was nothing more than a foolish dream,
but I have wings
and you cannot keep me here any longer.
Not only angels know how to fly.

Stars

Stars

You keep your eyes on me,
I keep my eyes on the stars.
This is a mission
I am confident I’ll complete.
Put your hand in mine,
we’ll jump into thin air
and hope the wind will catch us.
I will never let you fall,
my arms are wide open
and my eyes are shut so tight.
We’re changing bit by bit,
so keep your eyes on me.
We’re aiming for the stars.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Lush

Lush

she's the kind of girl
to carry condoms & a lighter,
just in case you need a smoke,
a pick me-up,
or an all-nighter.
her hair's in disarray
the cigarette smoldering between her lips,
the rips in her fishnets seem to say
"i've done all this before".
don't touch, she's the kind to scream,
the kind who breaks under your fingertips
while begging you for just a little more,
just five minutes longer.
from the tips of her stilettos
to the diamonds round her neck,
she's white trash class
can't you see it in her eyes?
don't stay.
don't let her see your weakness,
she'll pull you in
with her intoxicating smile
and her bloodshot wide-eyed stare.
she's the kind you want to show off,
content to hang off your arm
even when she knows it's finished,
pleading "it's not over, it's not over"
in your ear.
tell her it's not all in her imagination
and the nightmares will subside.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Memory

Memory

The memory of your touch
lingered longer on my skin
than your scent ever could.
Sometimes those memories are all I get by on,
sometimes all I can do is imagine us again
and again,
and doing more, going farther,
losing ourselves to the passion we both feel,
we both felt.
In those moments there was no right or wrong,
only two hearts beating in unison
and two pairs of hips,
two pairs of hands,
two pairs of lips,
intertwining,
pistoning,
striving to become one.
In those moments there was only me and you
and nothing else mattered,
and none of it was awkward or weird
not even my hair in your face
or your leg in the wrong place,
it was perfection,
sheer perfection,
and I’m living off those memories
until we can somehow find the time
to make more.

It All Falls Down

It All Falls Down

You build me up just to watch me tear myself down,
then stand back with a satisfactory look on your face
oh “look how pretty she is"
she’ll destroy her own mind and we’ll just take notes.
You claim no responsibility for the bullet holes
but it was you who put the gun in my hand,
you who crossed your arms and chuckled
when I gave a warning shot.
“Oh, she’s so cute. Watch her go.”
Well maybe it was cute to begin with,
when all we were was a few sweet kisses out in the stairwell,
flirty banter exchanged over the web and phone,
glances and smiles and a brief touch here and there.
Where did it go wrong?
We fit together so perfect,
clasping hands and lips together
holding each other and never wanting to let go,
I begged you “five more minutes”.
You have no time to spare for me,
there’ll be no more soft kisses
no more of your teeth sunk deep in my neck
no more of your soft exclamations in the dark.
I need to feel you under my hands, my hips,
this not seeing each other has drawn me to the dark side
and I’m wondering if you’ve found someone else.
You built me up to watch me fall,
well I’ve fallen hard for you baby,
and you haven’t been there to catch me yet.

Inside Your Arms

Inside Your Arms

Okay, I’ll admit it.
You are my reason for breathing
for the time being,
you are my sanity
right now.
And though you are far beyond arms’ reach,
I am pining for you still
hoping for you still
praying for you to realize
that you can’t wait another month,
or even another day,
another hour,
that you want me
need me
have to have me
right now
right this very instant
no matter what
no matter where
no matter everything that is trying to keep us apart,
that you’ll get to me somehow
and everything will be perfect
because life is so easy
when everything you ever wanted
fits inside your arms.

You Changed Me

You Changed Me

People ask me if I hate you
and my answer is always “no”
and it’s nights like these when I’m all alone
that I get to thinking about us and what we had,
and I come up with the why.
It’s as simple as this…
you did something to me
that I just can’t explain with words.
You took me to a new and better place,
and introduced me to myself,
you pushed your way through all the bullshit
and made me face the truth.
And for that I will always be grateful,
for that I will always have some kind of love for you,
even if I never want to see you again.

The Truth

The Truth

“Just admit it, you only want me when you can’t have her.”
Her words rang in his ears,
the ones she’d screamed in his direction
before she slammed the door
and walked away on everything they’d built together.
And as he lay in bed that night,
next to another,
he realized it was all a lie
and he can’t face the mirror anymore.

Closer

Closer

I wish I were closer to you,
then maybe my feelings could actually be justified.
Maybe then you'd be hanging on my every word
instead of never talking back,
maybe then you'd be hanging off my every curve
and no excuse could keep you away.
So why can't you find the time
to let me get to know you
in all the ways I'm begging you to?
Why can't you stay in my arms for the night
and let me hold you until daybreak?
I long to feel you,
to know you,
to be yours and only yours.
I wish i were closer to you.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Scream Your Lungs Out

Scream Your Lungs Out

Sing like you’ve never sung before,
and when the morning comes
and your throat is sore,
all I want to say is I do,
I have, and I always will,
but that would never be good enough for you,
or good enough for me.

I’m taking pictures in my head
just to remember what he said
and I, I find it hard to breathe
knowing that he’s watching me,
and my eyes can’t get enough.
Why must I only look, not touch?

Don’t move, don’t move now,
don’t even let your eyes blink.
Don’t breathe, don’t breathe now,
unless we breathe in sync.

Sing like you’ve never sung before,
and when the morning comes
and your throat is sore,
all I want to say is I do,
I have, and I always will,
but that would never be good enough for you,
or good enough for me.

So what goes around comes around,
just one look and I’m on the ground.
Feels like I’m wearing a disguise,
everytime he looks at me with those eyes
he captures me like a butterfly
I’m no longer yearning for the sky.

Sing like you’ve never sung before,
and when the morning comes
and your throat is sore,
all I want to say is I do,
I have, and I always will,
but that would never be good enough for you,
or good enough for me.

Don’t move, don’t move now,
don’t breathe, don’t breathe now.
Don’t move, don’t move now,
don’t breathe, don’t breathe now.

Sing like you’ve never sung before,
and when the morning comes
and your throat is sore,
all I want to say is I do,
I have, and I always will,
but that would never be good enough for you,
or good enough for me.

Sociology 101

Sociology 101

Look at me, society.
Am I worthwhile and desirable?
Do I fit in your social norms?
People look at me sideways
because I don’t subscribe
to no cookie cutter ways,
don’t follow the traditions,
don’t care about your rules.
I’m one walking proscriptive
with some sign slung round my neck
flashing “don’t touch” in neon pink.
There’s no exception big enough to hold me,
they expect me to obey
but I can’t follow your words.
I’m in ethical dilemmas up to my ears,
abort this, marry that,
take her off the life support –
no!
“Don’t touch”, remember?
I never signed that DNR order,
I never learned that law.
So the alcohol they pumped into my system,
it’ll mean nothing when I’m behind the wheel,
I’m just a folkway anyway,
excuse me
faux pas.
So how about it, society?
Am I worthwhile and desirable?
Do I fit in your social norms?

Thought Process

Thought Process

I lie awake and wonder
are you thinking of me too?
Is this just a joke to you?
Do I mean anything at all
or is it just foolish to fall
for you?

Your words seem clever,
yeah I read them whenever,
whenever I feel doubt
about this working out.
But I can’t seem to understand
why you just up and ran.
Yeah I know you don’t have time,
not enough to make you mine.

You’re pushing me away
I just wish you would stay
please don’t walk away.

I lie awake and wonder
are you thinking of me too?
Is this just a joke to you?
Do I mean anything at all
or is it just foolish to fall
for you?

It’s been too long and no see,
I think you’ve forgotten me.
Maybe you found someone else.
Boy, you’re messing with my health.
Leaving me alone too long
gets me thinkin’ all wrong,
things like maybe let’s “just be friends”,
things like this’ll never end.

You’re pushing me away (aren’t you?)
I just wish you would stay (won’t you?)
Please don’t walk away.

I lie awake and wonder
are you thinking of me too?
Is this just a joke to you?
Do I mean anything at all
or is it just foolish to fall
for you?

I Cannot Hate You

I Cannot Hate You

I cannot hate you.
We don’t work well together.
You’re a jerk,
and I’m a bitch,
and we conflict.
But I cannot hate you.
I won’t ever talk to you again,
I will never see you,
never hold your hand,
but I will never hate you.
You gave me some of the best times,
made me feel alive for once,
stole the sadness from my eyes,
forced me to tell the truth
when all I wanted to do was run and hide from you.
You made me open up,
and though I hate to admit it,
you’ve helped make me who I am today.
So I cannot hate you.
But I’ll never like you.

Onstage

Onstage

When I am onstage I am alive,
I am glamorous,
I am enviable.
The lights blind my eyes,
the stage is moving beneath my feet,
alive.
I am not me.
This is not my face,
not my words,
not my smile…
but it is my soul.
I have no time for mathematics,
or theories and names and dates.
I live for applause,
for laughter,
for passion,
for the echo of my voice against the walls of the theater,
against an audience’s ears.
I am not awkward onstage,
I am not nervous
nor scared,
not quiet.
Onstage, I am me.
You can’t touch.
You can’t judge.
You can’t insult,
or change.
But you can observe,
you can fill your eyes with me
til there is no room for anything else,
fill your ears til they burst.
And you can love me.

You Comfort Me

You Comfort Me

Like emeralds, like heaven’s light,
like stars in the night.
Like sunshine, like rain,
like an easy relief for the pain.
Like a favorite pair of worn-in jeans,
you comfort me.

Kites With No Strings

Kites With No Strings

I wish…I wish a lot of things.
My wishes are kites with no strings.
They float on the breeze
leaving my outstretched fingers,
never to return.
Your words are a knife in my back,
left there to rust
like some evil broken wing,
making me unable to fly.
I can’t make my wishes come true.
I can’t even reach them anymore.
And I’ll certainly never have you.

I Wish I Never Knew

I Wish I Never Knew

Mark me down as happy,
mark me down as upset.
If there’s a happy ending to this story,
well I guess I haven’t found it yet.
I don’t understand why two people
want to be together but end up alone.
Forgive me for saying,
but I wish I never had known.

I wish I never knew
how you felt about me.
I wish you’d never said
what I’d been dreaming all along,
call me wrong
but I can’t seem to understand.
I should be happy
but this didn’t work out like I planned.

I feel your heart beat,
even though you’re far away.
I am just around the corner,
how I wish that you could stay.
I cannot comprehend
why I can’t have you for my own.
Forgive me for saying,
but I wish I never had known.

I wish I never knew
how you felt about me.
I wish you’d never said
what I’d been dreaming all along,
call me wrong
but I can’t seem to understand.
I should be happy
but this didn’t work out like I planned.

If I had it my way
you’d be in my arms tonight.
If I had it my way
I would hold you til the morning light.
If I had it my way
I wouldn’t waste a single day,
I’d tell you how I feel inside
there’d be no more need to hide.
But I can’t hold you now
and I can’t hold you then.
If I can, then how?
If I can, then when?

I wish I never knew
how you felt about me.
I wish you’d never said
what I’d been dreaming all along,
call me wrong
but I can’t seem to understand.
I should be happy,
I should be happy,
but this didn’t work out like I planned.

Happy

Happy

I want so much to be happy,
happy for you
happy for me
happy for everything I know now.
But I know now.
Happy would be
you and me
together
I’m not saying
it’s gotta be
something like forever.
I’m talking about
being happy right now.
I could be happy
being with you
three months from now.
Who am I kidding
I’d go on living
but it’d drive me insane somehow.
I can’t stand the wait,
I can’t stand the time.
I want so much to be happy,
But you’re still not mine.

I Wanna Get To Know You

I Wanna Get To Know You
(And I don’t just mean intimately)


There’s just something about you.
There’s a certain “je ne c’est quoi”.
There’s something in your eyes
taking me by surprise.
And ooh when I realize, I…

I wanna get to know you
(and I don’t just mean intimately)
cuz I got some things to show you
(and I don’t just mean all of me)
I got this feeling,
oh it’s setting me reeling
but oh, oh my
you could be the guy to…
let me get to know you
(and I don’t just mean biblically)

I’ll find a way to show you
how much you mean to me.
Then somewhere down the line
we could be floating on cloud nine.
And ooh oh my –

I wanna get to know you
(and I just don’t mean intimately)
cuz I got some things to show you
(and I don’t just mean all of me)
I got this feeling,
oh it’s setting me reeling
but oh, oh my
you could be the guy to…
let me get to know you
(and I don’t just mean biblically)

You see?
You and me?
This could be…
Perfectly.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Footsteps

I'm tracing my footsteps
back to who I once was,
back to when I was innocent
and the worst hurts were skinned knees,
bruised shins,
or bumped heads.
I want to be that little girl on the swing again,
whose feet never quite touched the ground
if she just pushed hard enough,
who thought she could fly
and nothing on earth could hold her down.
I wish I could go back to that time,
when happiness was a drippy popsicle,
or scented crayons,
or dancing with your best friend to country songs
outside on the front steps.
When rainy days were best for staying out in,
when we could play football in the street,
when we fished in our back yard
even if we never caught anything.
I want to be that little girl who thought she could do no wrong.
The girl who was excited about her schoolwork,
who answered the door in nothing but a nightshirt,
who spent all Valentine's Day at the carnival
and never cared that she never had a valentine at all.
Things were so much easier when the worst part of your day
was a thunderstorm you were scared of,
and even then it was an easy solution
we locked ourselves in the bathroom with a bunch of pillows and my dog,
and everything was suddenly okay.
I'm tracing my footsteps
back to who I once was,
but I can't find them anymore
and I think I'm losing her
for good.

This Can’t Be Right

This Can’t Be Right

There'll be no teardrops tonight on my pillow,
there's only the scent of regret in the air.
Here in my heart the fire's still burning,
you couldn't have meant it when you said
"I don't care".
Don’t you understand my heart used to beat just for you?
This isn’t how it was supposed to be,
I shouldn’t have ended up all alone

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I Didn’t Listen

I Didn’t Listen

She said, quite clearly,
"Don't throw that toaster in the bathtub".
I didn't listen.
I thought, hey, it's probably like that
"Don't pick your face" thing,
it doesn't really matter.

I guess it did to her.

Emotionless

Emotionless

I think it’d be better if we had no emotions.
We’d never be afraid of rejection
because we’d never feel the need
to put our hearts and souls on the line,
and offer them up to someone
who just might feel the same
but probably doesn’t
and won’t.
Wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t have to worry about that?

Meant to Be

Meant to Be

“Desire is the source of all.”
We come together,
awkward combinations
of fingers and legs and lips,
tangled hair and eyes shut tight.
Your hand, my hand,
we fit so perfectly.
In the darkness,
I can definitely see.
I think maybe we’re meant to be.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Walls

Walls

You put up walls,
meant to block me out,
meant to fence you in,
meant to keep us far apart.
I couldn’t stop you,
because I never saw the bricks you laid
so slowly, one on top of the other,
blocking me out,
bit by bit,
blocking out the sky.
Your walls were invisible,
but I felt it,
when I ran headfirst into them.
I felt it shatter my heart
and rattle my brain,
bring me shaking to my knees.
You put up walls,
meant to block me out,
meant to fence you in,
meant to keep us far apart.

Unbroken

Unbroken

Happiness dances just beyond my outstretched fingertips.
Lonely has become my constant companion,
the only one who’ll hold my hand
and bandage up my broken heart.
Trust has abandoned me,
took one look at my empty eyes,
panicked and ran the other way.
I wish I could feel anything
other than alone,
anything other than abandoned.
Wish I could live my life,
unbroken,
unbridled,
and free.

Destruction

Destruction

I built my castle of honesty,
of truth and love and beauty.
You laid siege with your frigid demeanor,
your harsh words and unforgiving eyes,
tearing down everything I had worked so hard for.
What did I do to deserve this?
I never gave you anything but the kindest words,
the softest touches, the sweetest kisses.
You took me for granted,
and you took me out,
destroyed my dreams,
and I have not been the same since.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Growing Up

Growing Up

We sit picking through the rubble,
finding pieces of the people we used to love,
finding pieces of the hearts we used to have.
They tell us we're too young
we don't know what love is.
Well we're just products of our environments,
kids bred by war and commercialism
searching for any straws to grasp
in this thankless world,
and we find love.
Love is our outlet.
We love our friends, we love our pets,
we love each other.
No, we're not too young to love,
to feel, to learn, to grow,
to open ourselves up
and get our hearts broken,
all by ourselves.

Done

Done

I wish you meant it when you said "I love you"
because i meant it every single time,
those instances when we lay intertwined
whispering in each other's ears,
promises you never followed through on.
I loved you more than all the stars in the sky
and you took it all for granted,
that I'd always be there
that I'd stick around through all the neglect,
the emotional abuse,
the fights and you ignoring me for days on end.
Well, baby, I know you miss me now
but I am done with you.

Nothing

Nothing

Nothing binds us together now.
No promises, no vows,
no tangled veins and arteries
connecting my pained heart to yours.
You owe me nothing,
so I get nothing in return.
This is the way it always works itself out in the end,
you leave
and I'm left with nothing
but the sand sifting slowly through my fingers.

You’re A Charm

You’re A Charm

You spend your life trapped under glass,
a shiny gold bauble in a world made of brass.
You're not meant for this kind of slavery,
for things so vile and so unsavory.

Keep your eyes on the sky,
don't let your confidence be shaken.
There's a whole big world right out there
just waiting to be taken.
If you keep on sleeping
while the whole damn world is weeping,
you'll never find your wings,
no, you'll never learn to fly
and the world gets one more reason
to sit right down and cry.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Too Old

Too Old

My therapist said "regression is normal".
My mother said I was too old
to lay on the floor with a box of crayons
and color in my coloring books.
Too old to wear a plastic tiara outside the house.
Too old to call her "mommy".
My friends said I was fine
and that the Disney princess band aid
covering the shaving cut on my ankle,
was perfectly acceptable.
My ex kissed my lips in the dark of the movie theater
before he told me that he'd found someone new,
but that he'd always love me.
He traced shapes on my forehead with his fingertips
and I silently starting reciting my ABCs
and the names of all the My Little Ponies I had in my room.
My therapist said "regression is normal".
My mother said I was too old
to talk back to my video games
as if there was actually someone there
capable of listening and understanding.
Too old to skip down the street.
Too old to play with Barbies when I had nothing better to do.
My friends said I was fine
and that my Happy Feet obsession
was completely normal,
and that they loved the little penguins too.
My ex held my hand on the Tower of Terror
because he hadn't been on it since he was 5
and he was scared of dying,
and my hand was the only thing keeping him grounded.
I wound my arm with his own like my life depended on it.
And never once did I tell him he was too old
to be scared.

Series 1

Black Out

She found solace in the bottom of a bottle of pills
when she saw the pictures of them together,
when she realized he'd moved on
and she was still all alone.


Fun Fair

I watched you spinning round and round,
your legs streaming free
but your hair was so tangled.
And from the safety of the ground
I watched as the gears sucked you in,
let you go.
I watched as you were spun like a top.
The colors were so bright.


Melt

The ice caps melted.
I had a scuba mask and a snorkel,
and my belongings in a Ziploc bag
but there was nothing left
of what we had been.
I guess we shouldn't keep memories on paper.


Horror Movie

I won't be the first to die.


Machinery

"I'd give my soul to have you back."
I didn't sign a contract,
there's nothing to hold me to.


Some Call It Stalking, I Call It Love

When I see you through your bedroom window,
you look so sad at night.
I pretend that I'm all you need
but I realize I must be crazy,
and this tree is really not able to hold my weight
much longer.


Rice

You never considered me broken.
Well, I heard that rice expands
and makes pidgeons explode.
So I mixed them some rice & glitter
and held hands with a stranger in the park.


Reverse

I broke my mirror
trying to climb through
and find a world
where the truck got run over
by the Volkswagon,
and the driver ended up 6 feet under,
instead of her.


Maybe

Maybe next year
will be my year.
Maybe it was last year.
Maybe it will never be.


New Year’s Resolutions

I'm not making New Year's resolutions
because they never make it past February
and I'm still not going to lose that weight
or find a boy who actually cares.


Wish Upon a Star

I saw a shooting star last night
but the news said it was the space station exploding.
I won't be making any more wishes.


Suicide Lost

I wanted to drown
but the warm water turned into your voice,
and I remembered how it was the soundtrack to my entire life
and sang instead.


Zombie Boyfriend

I rent movies from Blockbuster,
I go to the mall,
I still don't know how to cook.
I'm normal.
They all get so upset
when they learn I'm dating a zombie.


Bowling

Every pin I knock down
is a boy who'll break my heart.
I always get strikes.


Not Ugly

When we die we come back as something different.
Maybe with greener eyes.
Maybe as a brand new star.


Angel

I don't know if you're real
but I follow you all the time
and one of these days,
I will reach out and feel your wings under my hands.
Maybe then I'll know for sure.


Merry Christmas

This Christmas I was going to send you my heart.
My friends talked me out of it.
Why would I want to send you something broken?


Ocean

I should have been brave enough to ask your name.
Instead I drew your picture in the sand
and left you standing there on the edge of the ocean.
I left you there alone.


Inequalities

I said "Let's hold hands"
You said "Eternity"


Fear

What if the sky falls down tonight?
Everything we worked for was in vain.
The oceans dried up, the flowers wilted
and every single person on the planet
disappeared.
What if you really found someone new?


Listen

Sometimes I wish you had just listened,
but other times I realize
that all the things I needed you to hear,
I never said out loud.


Survey Says

The only reason I do MySpace surveys,
is because I secretly hope you'll read them
and realize that almost every answer
is about
YOU.


Sunglasses

Lately my eyes look so sad.
That's the real reason I wear such big sunglasses.
I never told you,
because you caused it.


Fragile

He's afraid to touch you
because he's afraid you'll break.
That's how thin you've gotten,
and none of us know how to stop you.


Words

I don't say "I love you" unless I mean it.
You pass out "I miss you" too easily.


How Does It Feel?

Sometimes I write stories
where we're the main characters.
You're the hero
and I'm the one that slips through your fingers,
every time.


Lonely

I slept with him because I wanted to.
But now I realize I only wanted to make you jealous.
You still haven't begged for me to come back.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Never Meant To Be

Never Meant To Be

We shared a love of the theatre,
cold lemonade on a hot Disney day
the feel of your hand in mine
when we rode the Tower of Terror,
your eyes locked onto mine
when we held each other in my car for hours.
You like Coldplay and I can't stand them,
but you turned me on to Taking Back Sunday,
Hellogoodbye.
We were two peas from different pods,
somehow connected by mutual adoration
of music and life and the Real World.
How did we end up together,
like two pieces of a puzzle we fit,
arms locked around each other
when we kissed for real for the first time
outside the gymnasium to the sounds of "Shout!"
And where did it all fall apart?
When did we lose sight of all our common ground
and let our differences tear us apart?
Distance, age, hopes and dreams and fears.
You called and let me go while I curled up on a Walmart shelf,
unable to comprehend,
we reconciled.
I called and left you a message telling you it was over for good.
Now here I am, alone,
still waiting for you to call.
Don't move on.

Desperado

Desperado

You say you hate this town,
well baby what are you doing hanging around here for?
You know damn well no place could ever hold you,
you gotta spread your wings and be free.
So take hold of that velvet rope
and just slip right on under,
you weren't meant for fancy cages
of jewels and gold and glass.
You were meant to be soaring just out of my reach,
stretching your fingers just far enough
so that my hands could never touch yours.