Key

The hinges of my heart scream
as you try to pry it open.
Haven’t you realized by now, my love,
that no key fits this lock?
That forcing it open will only
break it?

Sweet girl, who taught you that you are not worthy of your own love? Don’t you know that once you’ve realized your worth, you are infinite?

don’t let them hide you from your own light

April

it is the most serene
madness.
the smallest oceans fall
from the sky,
and the wind extends her arms, inviting
everything to dance with her.
the rooftops sing
with the skin cells
of the sea.
like the bathing earth beneath
my feet, i am
saturated with life.
my layers have clung
together.
i am now one.

We were never completely in sync. You were the lightning and I was the thunder: always right behind you, never quite fast enough.

you never walked next to me

Even When You’re Here

language fails to express
the most profound darknesses of the heart–
the small cracks between the fertile soil of the
soul where only God goes.
There is no one where I am,
seeing through these eyes or
hearing through these ears, or
feeling the darkness in my stomach.
In all that I am,
I am utterly, darkly, alone.

You Only Stayed While You Were High

You rolled me up
and lit me on fire.
You kept me burning
until I dissolved in the
wind and collapsed
into ash–until
I was small enough
to pinch between your fingers;
my ebbing embers smothered on
your skin.

Space Boy

you were my space boy.
i didn’t see that you were light
years away because i was
transfixed by the nebulas in
your eyes.

you were my space boy.
i didn’t mind that your kisses
came through the arms of
reaching stars, because they
tasted like the Milky Way.

you were my space boy.
it didn’t matter to me that you
only touched me with your fingertips,
because I loved hearing about
what the earth looked like
through your helmet.

you were my space boy, but
i tried to ignore the fact that
there wasn’t room for me in
your shuttle–
that all those stars must make
my eyes seem so dim.

you were my space boy, but
it is hard to love
a space boy when there are
heavens between
infinity and earth.

Winter’s Kiss

There are strawberry fields between your knuckles
that crack and bleed when you close your fist.
But you won’t wear gloves, you won’t wear mittens;
you say you love the winter’s kiss.

Even when the rest of the world has hidden
underneath the frosty snow and ice,
you stand outside with your arms wide open
and tilt your head up towards the sky.

Though your hands and legs are red and numb
and the snow and sleet begin to fall
you won’t come in until you’re frozen
because then you cannot feel at all.

I walked away from her believing I’d never be enough; I walked away from him knowing I deserved more.

i’m learning that i deserve someone who deserves me

Small Little Rocks

souvenirs from where i’ve
consumed.
sometimes they pile up and
build little homes inside me.
sometimes i can unclench
long enough to throw them
back into the water.