Oh, creature of stone-gray, of memory dim,

We cataloged feathers and measured the limb.

We speak of your numbers, a bountiful cloud,

A shade that once darkened the farmer's field, loud.

You knew no real threat but the sky's sudden blight,

So numerous, trusting, you took easy flight.

Your vast, beating heart was your great undoing,

A slow, endless harvest, no one pursuing

Conservation or caution, n...

I didn’t a believe them when they said it was true,

That breaking and mending creates something new.

I thought the wound you left was just a mess,

A horrible, aching, unsightly distress.

I bled out the venom, the worry, the shame,

The sweet, sticky residue of your foolish game.

I stanched the soft pity, the whiny old plea,

And focused the torrent on just saving me.

I watched the red smear become d...

You think I'm still weeping over what we once had?

Still calling you "The One" that makes my heart sad?

Oh, darling, that narrative is utterly old.

That story you wrote has already been sold

Back to the used-bookstore, a tragic mistake.

I'm busy deciding which road I will take.

You got away, yes, you ran and you fled,

Convinced that my drama was all in my head.

You thought that my light would dim ...

I'm heartbroken, but not about you anymore,

Your drama is dull, a three-star bore.

My focus has shifted, my new crush is deep,

A man in a hardback that I plan to keep.

He’s perfect, you see, he’s got the sharp jaw,

He knows how to listen, ignores every flaw.

He’s always consistent, he knows the right line,

A gorgeous delusion, completely mine.

I close the last chapter and feel the sharp ache,

The ...

The coffee is perfect, the light is so bright,

The birds on the feeder are singing with might.

The sheets are still warm from my perfectly sound sleep,

And all the big promises you couldn't keep

Are just funny memories, filed neatly away.

I'm having, truly, a wonderful day.

I wore the new outfit, the red, sharp design,

The one you once vetoed with a grumpy sign.

I went to that restaurant you claim...

They warned me, of course, that your temper was hot,

That the sparks in your eyes were a dangerous spot.

But I like the risk, I enjoy the grand blaze,

And I thought I could manage your reckless, wild ways.

I stood in the kitchen, just watching you burn,

The candles, the bridges, the lessons you'd never learn.

I fed the combustion, believed I was strong,

A firefighter convinced that I truly belonge...

Why do roses have thorns?

It's not to deter a sweet hand or a bee,

They're there for the idiots who think they own me.

They look at the petals, all perfect and pink,

And fail to consider the moment they think

They can just grab and keep without paying the cost,

Without learning the worth of a love that they've lost.

They started out smooth, you see, perfectly bare,

Too soft and trusting for the ki...

It wasn't some trauma, no great, awful scare,

Just a small, quiet moment out in the air.

I was seven, perhaps, with a lock on my bike,

The combination lost. I yelled, "I don't like

Being trapped by a chain!" I tugged and I pulled,

While Mother just watched, perfectly cooled.

"You lost the key, dear," she said with a sigh,

"You'll sit by that fence until you learn how to try."

I didn't want patienc...

I let you plant things, I gave you the soil,

I let your opinions dictate all my toil.

You dropped little seeds that looked lovely and grand,

Like "You need me," or "You'll never flourish on your own land."

For months I watered that beautiful lie,

A dense, tangled jungle beneath my own sky.

It grew thick and sweet, but it choked out the sun,

And soon the whole garden felt utterly done.

The flowers ...

It wasn't store-bought, darling, that much is true,

No easy assembly, no fast glue.

We built this ourselves, from the ground to the roof,

A complicated structure that needed more proof.

I picked out the lumber, the steel, and the stone,

Refusing the kits that were easily grown.

I hammered the promises, one by one straight,

And sanded down arguments, sealed by some fate.

Every flaw in the pattern, ...