I kissed her bruised temple

And held her hands, which were still soft and not yet rigored.

I played her favorite song—

Delta Dawn—

And wept over her.

And for the first time,

She was not here to sing along.

Every birthday was an empty promise of karaoke.

Two weeks before my twenty-fifth rotation around the sun—

On the most unlucky day of the year.

Friday the 13th.

I expected her laughter to rico...

They have stayed until the warmth slipped out of its robe

And into the comfort of an autumnal chill.

I hear that near the equator,

It’s too sunny to be sad.

I hear the geese honking in the sky,

A perfect “V” formation.

Is it art

Or just instinct?

If we spoke the same language,

Would they bring me with them?...

Adolescence abuzz—

Heart pumping adrenaline until she is pure nerve.

Not so steady on her feet,

But she has a way with words.

She’s hooked on cliches.

Hopeless romantic,

Manic pixie dream girl wannabe.

Honey drinks her blood

And dares to say she is too sweet.

There’s plenty fish in the sea.

She says she evolved legs so she’d chase her dreams.

You were looking for someone with gills,

Who could s...

I am asked why I sleep so much.

If I play my cards right,

I will not dream

And it will feel like death by trial basis.

My search for truth

Brought me to rock bottom.

I kissed the barrel of my father’s shotgun

And prayed for it to end.

Living with the unknown is killing me,

Unleashing a pungent cynicism.

The glass isn’t half empty

Or half full—

It just doesn’t exist.

My attitude stinks,

I’ve ...

There’s something about your darkness that brings comforting solitude.

When it’s just you and I,

Everyone disappears.

Though I only know you in black and white,

I see every color with you on my mind.

I feel like I can love myself with the lights on.

Naked and unashamed as Adam and Eve before they fell from grace.

I can be soft

And open.

Welcoming you into my bed after the world goes quiet,

Hea...

That boy couldn’t tell you your favorite color

Or your favorite song

Or what keeps you up at night.

He’s just a warm body to ease the ache of loneliness.

A parasite begging for a morsel of attention

When he has a thirst that’s went unquenched.

His hands are grubby

And paw at your thighs like you are a slab of meat,

Your blood on his teeth when he finishes devouring you.

Before you invite him in...

As they took him,

Fresh from his mother’s womb,

Placed on the slab, ripe for the slaughter,

He pleads with the shepherd—

Please let me say goodbye.

But it falls upon deaf ears.

Since Babel,

Men stopped trying to understand each other

And turned to speaking with their rage.

So the beasts have suffered.

They sheared his mother’s wool

And weaved Joseph’s coat.

Sin comes in many colors—

To appea...

Summer’s wounds have not yet healed.

I’ve let the grief fester,

Pushing it down under layers of regret,

My heart blackened—

Now, I have no love left to give.

Possessed by the spirit of apathy,

I felt its entity infiltrate my brain,

Attacking my central nervous system until I became an unfeeling machine,

Cold as her body before they incinerated her.

Sleepwalking into autumn,

I opened my eyes,

An...

I have no reason to be sad today.

Despite my efforts to block out the light,

Sunbeams trickle in and kiss my cheek.

The accousistics of children’s laughter bounce off my walls.

And a wistful smile curves my lips.

My youth was full of blue skies and birdsong.

I’m always retreating back to my memories because, there, everyone’s still alive.

But now my soul is an unwanted visitor in my body.

The r...

June was the longest year of my life.

The Moirai conspired to show me how different paths would play out.

On the day of reckoning,

I stood at the altar,

Calling upon false gods.

My voice turned to hushed whispers,

Then a broken prayer—

God began to sound like my mother,

Tone-deaf lullabies, swaddled in codependency.

Even though the chord had been cut for twenty five summers,

I still cannot breath...