Regret

Late night conversations

And too many cigarettes

Maybe I only enjoy

What I might come to regret.

I sleep walk through my day

An anxious feeling of forgetting

Something important...

But what?

Every lesson I learn

Must be learned and learned again

Bad person, bad lover, bad friend.

I think I'm learning it wrong.

Or the lesson is too long

To properly dissect

Inspect, correct, perfect-

Maybe my attention is the defect...

Or I am just trying to deflect.

But what bother, what hassle,

To care so much for every little thing

Winter, Summer, Spring.

I only come alive in the Fall...

Of everything.

Forgetting

Now all we have are memories

Elusive as they are.

I ask you to describe your day

And it all floats away

A cloud of unrecalled words

Stumbled, circling, stunted conversation.

But I'll always know

The tone and cadence of your voice

Your calm and measured way

Of always thinking before speaking

Dispassionate and disapproving

And how that infuriated me.

And how I long for it now.

Mean Girl

Mean girl

Cold bitch

Hard heart

Evil witch

Call me what you like,

I know you're gonna call.

Nice

Is just another word for

Most boring of them all.

Extinguished

I've finally done it,

Extinguished all the love.

You are no longer remembered

With longing or fondness

In my heart or in my loins.

Your name upon my lips

Stale and without sentiment.

I don't know if that makes me feel

Better or worse.

Pain

Pain can be a meditation

When given the indulgence of time

And there is no relief.

Abandon

I miss the wild self abandon,

The mindless petty rampage

Of an endless dialogue bequeathed

To unremembered acquaintances.

The luxuriance of an outspoken opinion,

The brevity of a concern.

I miss the feeling of being

The permission to be

Me, but more me

Me, but less me

Me, but not me.

I don't miss the hangover.

Corruption

An elegant corruption of the truth

(to be sure)

Not with subtlety,

But through blunt force trauma

-ungrounded accusation.

A flurry of absurdity

And grandiose proclamations

Turn into undeniable

Encouragement of murder

Idiocy and prejudice.

A bleak and undesirable future

To look backwards to.

The Goblet

Balance a goblet full of sorrow
On your head until the morrow
With dignity and grace
Hold a steady pace
And smile like
 it isn't 
there
Fitted snug upon your hair
Waiting to tip over.

Woven

I look out to the ocean and see

A finely woven tapestry of

The sheerest gauze overlaid with

Beaded organza winking under the sun

Waves of lace fluttering at my toes.

She beckons to me in a (quiet, soothing) roar

To become one with her composition.

I, who have known many fabrics, but am made of

Flesh and blood and bones and breath.

But also I am filled with her.

My skin prickles under the winds behest

And yearns for her to enfold me.

To fill my pockets with precious stones and

Welcome the embrace of her depths

Like a child returning to her mother's womb.

Philosophy?

What have I been up to lately?

How to explain the curiously busy task

Of self reflection, regulation, maintenance

The privilege of a daydream?

Or the purely masterbatory amount of time

Spent in contemplation? 

How to justify that arguing with oneself

Could be a hobby, anxiety a sport?

How to convey the exhaustion 

of such an incorporeal productivity?

It all sounds so vague and conceited.

Is it philosophy or self flagellation?

"Not much, and you?"

Love Her

She was fearless

And she was brave.

She fought battles

She was too young to fight.

All her damage

Made her strong in the end.

And I love her now,

Even though I didn't love her then.

4 Star Review

It's a little bit La Femme Nikita

A little bit lesbian

And a little bit heartbreaking in the end.

I wanted my villain to win

I wanted the girl to get the girl

To live chaotically ever after

The End.

Lost

What is lost in our steady decline
Is not written on the skin in prose
Or felt in the bones and their grinding decay
It is in the slow and sudden loss of anticipation
For things just beyond our ken.
So lost are we in practical things
We forget the magic we hold within
And the world that knows us tomorrow
Will never guess the wonders
Throbbing beneath our skin
Or the secret places we once saw everywhere.
It is essential to never lose such wonder,
But every trudging day, it slips farther away
Until suddenly we are all grown up.

Fragments

This is all I have for you,

Fragments of a larger work

That I may never do.

Incomplete

Clove cigarettes in the summer heat

The coffee bitter, the orange juice sweet

Our emotions overripe, falling from the trees

Mourning a life so stunning 

And incomplete.

Breaking

I am always breaking

Everyday.

You break me down

I break away.

I break my own heart

Over every word you don't say.

Uncomfortable

Uncomfortable in this skin

Uncomfortable in this body

Uncomfortable with this spine

Don't tell me to be comfortable

Just because it's mine.

Too small too tight too

Painful

Too itchy too soft too

Hateful

Don't tell me to be

Grateful.

Easy

Time passes softly without you

And I don't know who I am

Or how I got here

Or why I alone am so easy to lose.

Baptism

I have found myself changed

Born again in your love

And now without you I wonder

Who the fuck have I become?

Ready

If my heart were ready to find

Maybe you would have heard it

Beating for you

You would have felt it skip

When you walked in the room.

Knife

There are times my body yearns

To be used like a knife

Cutting through the world

Sharp, unstoppable, feared.

Instead it lies on the sink edge

Balanced on possibility.

Beyond

Beyond

Every

Twinkling

Star

You are eternal.

Tin Cans

I'll send you a letter by paper plane

If you float me back a message in a bottle

Call me with your tin cans and a string

I'll get back to you by pigeon wing

Oh, somehow, some way

We'll get in touch again

Oh, somehow, someday

We will meet again.

What Is Left?

But what is left to say?

After I decide I'm done

Being treated this way

What is left to say?

After I decide I'm done 

Going on this way

What is left to say?

All this time I went with the flow

All this time I'd just go where you go

And I'd just do what you want to do

Because at least I was with you

But now I'm done, done, done

And what is left to say?

Decadence

And so my decade of decadence

Has come to a close

And nothing I have left

Is worth keeping

Not memories

Or friends

Or worn old party clothes.

Dissent

When happiness seems too hard,

I choose to experience everything else;

All the small cruelties of life,

All the bizarre and broken people.

I swim comfortably through the bilge,

At home with the feeling of unrest.

Riotous, lazy, malcontent,

Be safe in my harbor of dissent.

If I May

Don't kill yourself in May
They'll bury you on a sunny day
Loved ones squinting in dismay.
The summer will steal your heat
Tacky sandals on the feet
Of your sweaty pallbearers.

But if you must,
(Ashes to ashes,
Dust to dust)
Dearly departed,
You are a cunt.

The Fool

Beginning something new.

Taking a risk with hope.

I'm just The Fool

In your deck.

Another ship to wreck.

Untethered

Once you were mine

But now you have floated from me

Like an untethered balloon

Up and away

To dance with the clouds.

Co-Dependent

I entrusted to you

Every terrible inch

Of my heart or soul

Or whatever it is that

Makes a person a person.

I was a selfish child

Wanting only the best of your love

Always.

The most space in your life,

As much as you could give,

More.

But I wanted only what I gave

Without limit, without restriction,

Forever.

I was a foolish child.

There is no trust so free

So blind, so grand, so true

Only dependency too great

To see beyond the homes

We make of our companions.

Peace and Quiet

 There is now a quiet and a calm

(I can't stand it;

It drives me insane).

And I sink into it,

Burrowing further and further

And farther away from

The drama of others lives.

I cocoon myself from everyone,

And the riot turns to rest

And I'm sleeping in tomorrow,

And the next day,

And the next.

I Hate Florida

I hate Florida
Too much sun and sand
And the palm trees depress me
Stucco houses be damned!
I hate Florida.

Tattooed leather skins
Tobacco stained grins
And neon everything
Like all the worst parts of the 80's
In a gun shaped sauna.
I hate Florida.

Hot, humid, vaporous air
Choking me into submission.
Fat, pale tourists
Riding bicycles in thongs
Everything here is wrong.
I hate Florida.

Everyone in the Midwest loves it
But I am far above it
The afternoon monsoon
The midday decay
The lizards climbing every wall
I'd gladly forget it all,
But the sunsets really are stunning.

I still hate Florida.

A Burning Thing

You've always believed love to be
A burning thing
That leaves you seared
And inevitably scarred.
Believed it merely the price to pay
To stay warm in another's arms.

You put yourself last
Because they tell you that's what love is
And though no love is perfect
There are moments that feel so pure,
The fights that leave you crying
Are just moments to endure.

From afar I see you love yourself
Less and less
While building a fence around
That precious love nest
Of lies and baubles, you fight to defend.

I can't stand to watch it.
I can't bear it, my friend.

Profane

A word is just a word
Unless you hurl it like a stone
But all these proper gentlemen
Want me to atone
For using words they do not like
I am scolded like a child
But I am not a child,
You insipid fucks,
I can use whatever words I'd like.
Propriety is only a construct
Not a golden truth.
How delusional you must be
Too see only profanity
As you stand and denigrate me.
A word is just a word,
But even a dirty one
Is better than you.

Time

I have time to waste
Until the final taste
I might as well waste it
With you.
So much time to waste
Years that I could be alone
Reading and writing
Philosophizing
Or
Snuggling deep into you.

Gold Brown

Because I loved you
(And the gold brown of your eyes,
Orange like fire sometimes)
What I loved most was
The way they looked back at me.
No one looks at me like that anymore.

Past Present Future

Sun setting in my rearview mirror
Like the earth spinning past this year.
In front of me, a blue and pink sky
The moon hanging so high.
I am here in the present
Just breathing.
Driving toward something
And away from something else.
And it all matters
And it's all beautiful.

Strangers with Benefits

Public indecency
In a snow covered car
Hot August nights
Heating up the stars
And in the Fall
We fell together
Crashing into walls.

What if
What if you never kiss me again?

What if
What if we're not even friends?

Drunken disorderly
Flirting at the bar
After party games
I'm clearly all yours
And in the end
We fall together
Landing wherever.

What if
What if I never kiss you again?

What if
What if this is the end?

We talk like long acquaintances
How's your kid and how's your job?
I think that's all we'll ever be,
A respite from feeling lonely.
What if that is all we'll ever be?
Strangers with benefits.

Shiver

You're cold in the winter
And you can't fix what you break
But I can't stop thinking about you
It makes my bones ache.
I'm too warm, too cozy
Too soft, too here, too much.

I long to shiver from your touch.

Brittle Souls

Stiff hair,
Brittle soul.
You tried to break me
With a wooden rod,
Shame me
With your god.
Wilful child,
Too evil, too wild.
You warned me of doors
And where they would lead,
I broke through yours
And never looked back.

The Weather

So tired of hearing
About the fucking weather,
What does it matter to me?
Yeah, it's fucking cold outside
It's fucking winter, you dumbass
We don't live in California.
No, I didn't order the cold,
Don't think UPS delivers that
And the U.S.P.S. is seriously underfunded
or some shit...
And go fuck yourself.

Quotes

I've been reading quotes
By wise men all day long
And what I've found is maybe
I am both weak and strong
Right at times and others wrong.

Because they couldn't all just agree
And there's no way I could be me
Without some philosophical quandary
Bounding around my head,
Sitting in my soul like lead.

Best Part of Waking Up

Every morning for breakfast

I eat disappointment-oh's

With almond milk and sugar

I gulp it down so violently.

You came out of nowhere

Those burning eyes, that long hair

Muscular thighs, now I don't care

About breakfast anymore.

The most important meal of the day

The most important meal of the day

The most important meal of the day

Is you.

Your gold flecked eyes

Your way with lies

You are the prize

In every box of cereal

Cheap and easy

Mostly sleazy

The best part of waking up

Isn't coffee.

Accountability

Accountability is a chain reaction
-Everyone is culpable.

Motto

Be a safe place
For others to be true.

Wanderless

There's forests and flowers
And oceans so deep
And yawning caverns
And fields of wheat.

There's mountains with snow
And pyramids and sand
The suns warm glow
The moons sweet smile.

There's endless space
Stars burning, comets hurtling
And so many people
All starving for something.

Everyone says I should travel
As if I'm missing out,
Like I haven't lived without
The cosmos already within me.

Too Late

Oh what a struggle
Oh what strife
Such a busy life
So put me to bed.

I am up too late again
And I've been
Up to no good
Up to no good
Up to no good
I've been
Up to no good
Up to no good
Up to no good

Thinking about you...

I should put you out my mind
Work on moving forward
And I am trying to unwind
But I can't stop

Thinking about you...

Replaying our love like a movie
Our conversations like a script
Wrapping your thin arms around me
But it's too late.

Pleasure

Aftershocks of pleasure

Like I need the reminder

Of a one time, sometime

Casual experience.

You go home to a shared

Intimacy of lies.

I stay here with all my

Unspoken goodbyes.

You are nothing to me,

The pleasure is fading.

You told me your name

Walking out the door.

I'm still there somehow

On my living room floor.

Is It?

"It's not the best, but it's not the worst"
And other things we say
When we get less than we want.
But is it less than we deserve?

Petty Purification

She's a parody of a person,
Selling health in a bag,
Hocking a life style via Internet
No one can afford.

She promotes "well being"
Like kale can save your soul,
But a juice cleanse and granola mix
Won't make you whole.

#NoMakeup selfies,
Pictures of the dogs
Eating vegan treats.
We're all just filthy animals
Who crave meat.

Go

You know what,
Listen.
Fuck you for thinking I'm disposable.
Fuck you for not caring the way I care.
Fuck you, I'm tired of making excuses,
And taking all the blame.
If you don't need me, then go.
If you don't want me, then go.
Then go fuck yourself.

Wild

You look at me and see a wild thing.
And I am.
A child of the forest,
A warrior of the first people.
Men like you look at me and see
A creature to tame
Or to kill.
A woman without fear,
Without respect,
Without submission.
You look at me and see a wild thing.
And I am.
With your throat between my teeth,
Only then will I smile.

Do Not Disturb

I'm just a girl
Traumatized by nothing
Reliving, not the trauma,
But the feeling that remained.

It all just feels a part of me now,
Inescapable identity.
Without it, I don't know what's left.

Shaped by daily abuse,
Weekly torment,
And then all the death...
My personality is a bruise
And life is the hammer.

You enshrine me,
But you know nothing,
Revealing only base desire
For the image of a girl disturbed.

Murderer

You take for granted the life in front of you
And call me a murderer.
You close your eyes to atrocities
Yet I am the demon
And my life is forfeit
To your beliefs.
A woman is just a vessel
For mankind to use and fill,
Not autonomous or given free will.
How long till I am as important
As the cells bundled inside of me?

Iowa

Where am I going?
Where have I been?
Everything looks the same to me.
How do you know where to turn?

Fucking gravel roads.
Fucking corn fields.

No.

Sorry I didn't want to fuck
On a basement floor.
Sorry I wanted less
When you wanted more.
Sorry for the rage in your eyes
When I politely declined.

Sorry that I apologized.

Idiot

You want a 

Fated

Destiny driven

Meet Cute moment

Everytime.

No effort or planning.

Just chance.

You're an idiot.

My Little Girl Heart

I've got nothing to give you

Nothing you'd want anyway

I've been struggling just to make it

Through another day.

I keep searching for a reason

That you might want to stay

I keep coming up empty

Cuz you always go away.

My little girl heart

Lives in fairy tales

And all the king's horses

And all the king's men

Couldn't put it back together again.

Replay

The delicious despair
Of words that understand your pain
Nothing to gain
Except misery multiplied
But it feels so good
To soak in the bad
Sometimes.

Replay.

It Felt Like

Every time you touched me
It felt like something more
Than just wonton avarice.
It felt like emotion.
Like you were searching for
Something deep inside of me
(So careful, so kind).
But in the end
(Because this is the end)
It was all nothing.
We are nothing.

Mourning

"I don't see the point in being sad
Over something that never existed,"
I say as I mourn
Everything you never became.

Virtue

In my cult they said
"Strong willed" like a curse
As if being weak
Were a virtue.
That's always been the view
Of those who wish to hurt you.

The Dirt

Do what you gotta do

Screw who you gotta screw

To get what you want

Is not a crime

And morality is just a line

You sign your name on.

And don't ever go back.

If you have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill

Never go back to that life

To the dirt you crawled away from.

Novocaine

Novocaine,
I wish you could
Numb my soul.

Time

Time flies like a vulture
Circling something dead or dying
Letting everything else gnaw at you
Before claiming what's left.

The Dream

"I'm living the dream!"
But whose dream?
And why do they dream
Such shitty dreams?
If there's one thing I excel at,
It's dreaming.
Not to boast, not to brag
But my dreams are better
Than this endless drag.
So why am I stuck
Living in this dream?

POS

Do you miss me like I miss you?

Like a part of your soul is missing?

Probably not, you piece of shit.

Outflung

She is joy

And she is wild

She dances just like a child

With her arms outflung

Laughing at the sky.

Roving Soul

I pick you up, I put you down
I know you'll always be around
When I am ready to begin again.

I carry on like it is fine
There's no trouble writing lines
But filler drives me to tears.

Oh I'm such a roving soul
Oh I have such fickle fingers
Oooh my mind it wanders
But it always wants to return.

I pick you up, I dust you off
A little rusty from neglect
Lucky I'm a good beginner

I dip the brush, I spread the paint
I still remember what to do
So obsessed for today with you.

Oh I'm such a roving soul
Oh I have such fickle fingers
Oooh my mind it wanders
But it always wants to return.

I wish that I could love just one
Have a burning passion for
Not a "Jack of All" situation.
I wish I could master anything,
It sure would save me time
And so much frustration.

Born Again

Condemn me with one hand
Jerk off with the other.
You are a sacred miracle
Everything about you is sin.
Fully responsible victim
Evil incarnate birth, born again.

Truth

You think you want the truth
But what you really want
Is for the truth to be palatable.
But the truth is like grizzle
And you break your teeth on it.

Present Company

Was there a before?
I can only feel the after.

Rich White Man

Preconceived notions

Thoughtless oceans

Inhumanity we swim

Everything we doubt within

Is without doubt, a sin

Against the human ego's fall

The rich white man within us all.

Fickle Friend

I think you put on different faces

For the different people in your life.

I think you hate the things

You love about yourself.

I think you can be a brilliant clown 

And a shitty fickle friend.

Anyway, I miss you, Asshole.
When do you come to town again?

Phoenix

Like a phoenix I will rise

From the ashes of this life

Tonight I have gone lower

Than I ever thought I would

All that's left to do is

Burn myself alive

And live again.

Belief

I believe in reinvention
I believe in best intention
I believe in breaking convention
But I don't believe in you.

Leftovers

Let me borrow some love

Some warmth

Some tenderness

Or call me a thief

Stealing in the night

What I need to survive.

Just the little bits

You don't need, won't miss,

Just your leftover love

While I sit here and bleed.

Weirdo

I was just a weirdo
Just a silly sullen girl
And he was just the sun
The moon, and all the stars.
But now he's gone
And I'm still here
And after all these years
I think I might be fine.

Saturday, 4 A.M.

It's 4 A.M. on a Saturday,
Obviously I'm drunk.
That doesn't mean I like you
Any less.

I'm texting you because
You never text me first,
And at 4 A.M. I'm drunk
And hopeful.

But I'm getting nowhere,
You barely text back.
You can only think to ask
"Are you drunk?"

Well if I wasn't drunk
Then I'd want to be,
Your response isn't inspiring.
I give up.

I Don't Want You

You don't think you're too old

You don't think you're too weird

You don't think you're too bald

You don't even trim your beard

But you want me want me want me

You don't think you're too broke

You don't think you're too drunk

You don't think you're too much

You don't even have a job

But you want me want me want me

I don't think I'm too pretty

I don't think I'm too good

I don't think I'm too smart

I don't even have heath care

But I don't want you want you want you

Please

I have a cautious, guarded heart
It is so easily torn apart
So if I let down my walls
Hand you all the tools
All the deadly weaponry
You might need to destroy me
...please don't.

I want to believe your eyes
And the words you whisper
Between my thighs
So if I lay it all bare
If I give you all the keys
To bring me to my knees
...please don't.

All I can do is ask,
All I can do is plead.

Please let me believe in love
Please let it all be true
Please let me be in love with you.

Eyes Shut

Don't tell me what you think I want to hear

Tell me everything you hope, you hate, you fear

I want to crawl inside and analyze

On top, jaw drop, all lies stop

You can be my salvation

Dirty little desecration

Soul rotting desiccation

I'll sew your eyes shut to any other kind of love.

Ballad of a Slut

I just want a boy to fuck when I'm drunk

Hold me close and smell my hair

Tell me that I'm funny and smart

Not bare me his whole damn heart.

I just want a boy to screw when I'm blue

Something warm to hold on to

Not too pretty and not too bright

Just some company for a night.

If that's you then come on down

I'll be out on the town

Drinking swill and poking fun

Maybe you could be the one...

Nah.

I just want a girl to fuck when I'm drunk

Kiss me soft and make me bold

Tell me that I'm sharp as a knife

Not share me her whole damn life.

I just want a girl to bone when I'm stoned

Lie through her teeth and bend the knee

Flatter me with bedroom eyes

Loud exclaims and short goodbyes.

If that's you then come on down

I'll be out on the town

Drinking swill and poking fun

Maybe you could be the one...

Nah.

If you're looking for a girl

For a whole new world...

Look elsewhere, Hon!

I'm just looking for some fun!

Heartbroken

I'm gonna color my hair

Buy some new underwear

Listen to a different music genre

Because my soul is restless

And my heart is broken.

Someone (quick!)

Get me out of this drama.

Write me a new song

Direct a better life

Bring me a big bong

And a cheap sweet wine

To mend this heart of mine.

I'm gonna go out tonight 

And maybe start a fight

Or dance it out with tequila shots

Because my soul is restless 

And my heart is broken.

Someone (quick!)

Let me out of this drama.

Write me a new song

Direct a better life

Bring me a big bong

And a cheap sweet wine

To mend this heart of mine.

To mend this heart of mine

Let's do another line...

To mend this heart of mine.

Just Kids

Try to remember

We were just kids

Everything new and

Unprepared for.

No sage advice

Or everlasting love

Our brains were trained

By Scantron tests

And movie dialogue.

The lyrics to

Our favorite songs

Only did us wrong

Because we didn't understand.

I Wish

I wish I could be nice
Like everyone else.
I wish I understood
When people say things.

I wish I could be mean
Like everyone else.
I wish they understood
When I don't say things.

I wish I could be close
Instead of closed.
I wish I could be most
Instead of almost.

I wish.
I wish.
I wish.

Cons

I'm bad at drugs

I never lie

I often wish that I would die

I'm always late

I can't commit

And I'm a lazy screw.

I don't cook

I barely clean

Exaggerate what I have seen

I'm a narcissist

And I can't resist

A good old reminisce.

I'm a godless heathen

I don't stray from

What I believe in.

I talk too much and

When I have nothing good to say

I'll say it anyway.

I'm a fixer not a listener

I'm a smoker not

A fucking quitter.

I'm a hypocrite

But I'm cool with it

I meant it at the time.

But won't you love me anyway

Tell me that I'll be okay

Someone else can surely see

That's not all there is to me.

Although my cons outweigh my prose

I'm more than just a list.

Web M.D.

I could just be scaring myself late at night
But instead of monsters, it's illness.
Every cursor click, I'm further
Down the rabbit hole.
Every symptom a tarot card,
An astrological reading.
But this doesn't feel like a scary story
Fit for everyone.
It feels like
Past present future
Truth.
Turns out I'm already
Dead.

Heavy

Heavy

Everything you lost weighs
More than you could have guessed
In your chest.

Heavy

Don't drop your burdens
They break into more cargo
To carry.

Heavy

Labor for your pains
Just ignore the feelings until
They're buried.

Get Off

I'm not part of the landscape
I'm a visitor in this topography
I'm just trying to smoke a cigarette
So kindly get off me.

I know I shouldn't discriminate
I know ugly is just a label
But you freak me out
So fucking get off me.

Fly away to something brighter
Crawl back to whatever hell you're from
Get away from my face, out of my hair
Just fucking get off me.

Happy Birthday

Clouds like cotton balls
In a baby blue sky.
The sun touches down to
Rolling green fields,
Row by row intersected by
The roads I'm traveling,
And small crumbling towns
That feel like home.

Silence

There is no silence if you listen.

Inside, the machines hum,
And the fans whir,
And water burbles through a pipe
Somewhere.

Outside, the lights have a whine,
And the crickets keen,
And a dog howls in the distance.
Trucks rush by in their hurry
So even the wind has something to add
-Whoosh.

Loudest of all are the thoughts
That scream and wail
With toddler-like enthusiasm
Inside of my head.
Persistent, relentless.

All I want is silence.

Shit Head

Never had much luck
With men named Matt
Last one told me he liked
That I didn't have a cat
What kind of fucking shit head
Says a thing like that?

First time I got drunk
I was fingered by a Matt
His nails were too long
And after all of that
Sobering hanky panky
It hurt when I sat.

My first crush was
A boy named Matt
Pummeling him lovingly
With my stuffed cat
I should've known by his whines
That's not where love was at.

A rose by any other name...
Well, it's not a fucking Matt.

Smile

Smile, Sweetie
Ugly is offensive
If you have an opinion
I'll get defensive
Your body is art
I want to own
You smiled at me
Won't leave you alone
Sleep with me
But don't be a slut
If you dress provocative
I'll slap that butt
If you should object
You're an upright prude
Try to reject me
Well that's just rude.

That Other Winged Thing

Cigarettes and coffee
Orange juice for the tears.
We puff and puff and pass
But this feeling never lasts.
Instead of circling together,
We threw secrets like stones
And tore apart a body,
A remembrance,
Feathers everywhere,
And flew our separate ways.

Closure

Things will never be the same
And if this feeling had a name
I might be closer
To something like closure
But I've never been one
To close doors or memories or pain.
And I'm always leaving lights on
In the car and the house, in my brain.
If ever you should return to me,
You'll let that guide you through
The cold, the dark, the rain.
I might let you stay to explain,
But things will never be the same.

Dirty Talk

Pretty boy, you're throwing joy
Around like birthday confetti.
You are marmalade in my mouth
Too sweet to eat every day.
You are a house full of Xmas lights
And I can't wait to turn you on
Then take you down and
Put you in a box in the attic.
You always say such pretty words
To me and all the other girls
But I can't give you any dirty talk
My hips say more than my lips can
And yours isn't the biggest cock,
But it really has grown on me.

Pretty boy, the lights are low
The music is jumping in my chest.
You are the brightest thing in the room
Looking directly at you hurts.
And the feel of you so soft against me
Saying such pretty dirty nothings
Nothing I haven't heard before
But still quite fun to hear in the moment.
You are a ball pit and a bouncy house,
So much fun if only I were younger
But I am a shark tank full of hunger
And you are bleeding every time.
You know I won't do dirty talk,
When you are dirty poetry.

Angst

Embrace the angst of your youth.
Every embarrassing moment
Has the beauty of a thousand
Cringes.

And that person who wouldn't
Leave your hysterical brain,
You wanted with near physical pain,
Twinges.

Remember but never relive.
Analyze, and maybe forgive
Yourself of the sin of being young and
Naive and full of hormonal imbalance.

And love yourself now
Every why and every how
Because someday you might recall,
With wonder, that you survived.

Drunk Feet

I dreamed about you last night,
You put my drunk feet on your feet
And together we danced.
And though it's not a thing
You actually would do,
I finally felt like I was home again,
Dancing and drinking with you.

Free Fall

All the damage I keep stroking,
The dying embers needing stoking.
The jagged edges of my past,
The poison apples, the broken glass.
Unnecessary, dangerous protections.
Deluded self projections.
But I don't want to fix myself.
If I am not falling apart
Then what am I?