Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Forever


If only she knew 
The number of times 
A beautiful Woman has told me 
I want you forever 
Just not right 
now 

What is this black magic that has me
My whole life suspended in some static future I can’t seem to catch 

Do not allow yourself to be 
Another woman’s getaway vehicle 
Another woman’s way out 
Or escape
Not again

Every time I start my car 
My phone calculates the minutes until I arrive at your door 
It tells me that traffic is light
It should be just the length of this song until you are in my arms
And yet, I feel freight cars stalled on the bridges cast from this quiet

What I am trying to say is:
I am always acutely aware of the exact distance between us 
How if I am not careful 
Your absence will swell and fill cavity in my lungs so deep 
I will forget how to breathe

Try again


Listen
To the words
she says
The first time around
Watch how they build brick roads for your departure
They are Sirens
You should take notice of

Pay attention to how
You are offered opportunities
One after the other
To take cover
And hold yourself as the tender thing you are
Pay attention to the way you choose to refuse
How you
Woman of rock and lava formation
will shed skin after skin
Until you are the very shape of open

So that when you are left
With the same questions, you’ve asked yourself before
Wondering, where this distance come from?
Or how you arrived in this barren landscape
You will have the answers
You will not need to beg at her ankles for explanation
You will not shrink until you evaporate
You will know
You did not listen,

Take the time,
This time.  to heal
And then, try
again.


Sunday, August 5, 2018

Follow


Follow the women 
Who take you back to the sea 
Who show you how 
To hold your breath 
And dive deep
Follow those women 
Who’s scales don’t cut at your soft skin
Who can see the way 
You never shed
Just carry 

Follow the women 
Who return you to the ocean 
In your joy 
In your fear 
In your every body