In limbo

my back will never bend 

as far as yours 

my spine was meant to stay

unbroken as a battering ram 

but you curve to fit my 

unrelenting angles 

mold into my skin 

until my muscles relax 

into you

embraced  

The light still hurts my eyes when you're not there

our bodies are curled into a chair
built for one as the sun plays havoc

with your eyes like tiny moons
reflecting back the unforgiving light

and you always say you can see
tiny earths in mine so I wonder

if we were made to move around
each other in an orbit to only end

when one of our sickened hearts
forms a supernova and obliterates

an eternity of gentle mornings
when your barren calm directed

the light back toward my tiny
migraine-infected earths

in a way that never hurt only
left an image of your face

burned into my retinas like
permanent proof that the brightest

stars always fade the quickest
and if not the quickest leave

the most to die
in their absence

17 honest syllables

the worst part of you
seeing me naked is there's
nowhere to hide scars

This is a promise.

The darkness of day is mystery,
but if you wish to find me, my love,
I'll be standing by the broken tree.

When stars at twilight abandon me,
sometimes innocence isn't enough-
where dark and day coalesce, I'll be.

The world is still so that all can see
the silhouette of an injured dove
climbing the hill to my broken tree,

to limbs so charred they can barely breathe,
a black star in the sky, ashen, rough-
where dark and day coalesce, I'll be.

Rest your head now dear, you needn't leave

as dark shines upon what lightning struck.

You are safe here in my broken tree. 

Perhaps someday, you will let me see
what nature does to all that you love.
Where dark and day coalesce, we'll be.
I will find you by your broken tree.

Balance

I am the darkness
for you to hide in, your secrets
and body nestled safely
against my breast.

you are the light
shining through the cracks
in my smile,
warming my breath
every time our lips meet.

days and nights
wrap around each other
like your arms
around my knees,
the tiny earths in my eyes
turning slowly at your touch.

It's just so hard not to touch you, love.

you dance around me

when others are watching

like you don't want them to know

about the dark room with the couch

behind a curtain, how you called me 

babygirl because the darkness

and the silence

made you braver.  

you kissed me on the lips

once 

where others could see.

I think it was an accident.

but when we're alone, we crash

into each other like the sea

finding a new place

on the shore,

my neck arched 

like a wave

for your lips to ride.

but sometimes, when no one

is watching, you

push your head back against

my chest, feel my breath

jump like the ocean

at high tide,

and smile.  

After the fall

I pulled you in
by the strings of my jacket
wrapped around your shoulders
and our lips met
at the perfect speed-
soft, quick, natural,
like we could do it every
day for the rest
of our lives.