The crash Comes when you’re surfing a wave. You taste the salt air and Grip with your toes, Forgetting that all waves must fall.

You wish progress flowed like time, And that late July Is what life always tastes like:

Summer’s eternal crest No sea could swallow....

I’m infinitely curious but equally breakable Too soft to bury a truth unmistakable So I search for the truth but then swaddle a lie Why stare into hell when you could hide in the sky?

My faith is a phone I dropped down the gutter When clarity honks my exhaust pipes sputter Burrowed as deep in the sand as the buildings are tall Since seeing everything demands feeling nothing at all

So I ple...

To the girl in the velvet dress:

When you were born You signed an unspoken contract

To agree to the silence To not ask questions To not challenge the status quo

The evidence is written In stiff photo album poses and diamond smiles In grand halls with high ceilings and tiny forks In rides on friends’ boats In itchy velvet kids clothes on Christmas morning In safety handed out like ratio...

Growing up was constantly Swimming With no gills In a pool of ice water Always moving Pursuing The label of Your perfect daughter You love me, you applaud me You know that I’m smart But what happens when Miss perfect Stops playing her part? Will you still adore me If about me You can no longer brag? If I start speaking my mind? Waving a more colorful flag? If I center my values Instead of padding ...

If I’m bi why can’t I just marry a man? 
I don’t just exist in the spaces in-between 
I make the in-between take up space.
My first crushes were an elf with a bow and young Leo. 
I was so sure of my feelings and also not sure at all. 
After all, I was a uniform school girl who loved RENT.
I wanted a boy because I wanted a boy to want me.
Other girls made me nervous, especially the pretty ones. 
The...

I thought I got rid of him I thought I cleared the air Of his toxic chemical breath And his scary witch hair

My scars from where he ate me Had been healing recently Until today he swam up out of nowhere To bite off another piece of me

The cuddle fish say “he’s crazy!” Even the eels say “it’s not your fault!” But his attacks drew so much blood That I’m perfect prey for more assault

P...

Dear diary,

I love him but When I’m in bed with him, I can only see, When I close my eyes.

And when I do I don’t feel his lips on mine.

I imagine hers.

Soft and beautiful The curves on her body Sharp and sweet like citrus, A glass prism hitting the light Just right.

I want her. This faceless femme In the way the horizon wants the sun.

Every night.

What is wrong with me?

He’s so kind,...

I hung my heart out to dry On a clothesline And it rained every single day

Bouncing up down and

Blowing in the wind

Drenched in these tears Touching this skin

...

Oh what peace this day should bring In a solar orbit’s sling Because sound doesn’t know yet how to yell In the cosmic great nothing

But when it’s quiet enough to hear my thoughts The inner supernovas spark The BOOM of chaotic swirling stars Cloud the relief of the quiet dark

Jupiter’s stormy eye entraps me Swirling unable to unwind Why does the mass of a trillion galaxies Have weaker pull than m...

I can’t help but love And look for things to love in the souls of others. Love is the entire sky.

But to find another woman to love, I can’t just go to any bar And wait to get hit on.

I have to sense the queer parts in the crevices of others, And hope they’ll unlock them for me.

As a result, I’ve seen some shooting stars.

I excite them for a while.

But in the end, I am always flowers wi...