I

I am in love with you.

 

You, a thousand pieces of luminous turquoise strung together by a crimson thread.

I,  a smattering of cosmic dust and consciousness with a spirit to rival the shooting stars.

We met in the orchid, casting seeds of passion as our bodies cultivated our beings.

It was here where I first found me, lodged somewhere between the darkness of your irises, and it here where I plan to discover the truth.

 

You, the world’s greatest mystery yet simple enough for a babe to solve.

I, a byproduct of bloody razorblades and plastic capsules that dared to face the depression during school days.

We met by the fountain of youth, stealing sips from the pool of passion.

It was here where I first lost me, adrift within riptides and black holes and empty liquor bottles, and it is here where I decided my fate.

 

You, the queen of the sandcastles, the kiss of a mother with the lips of a one-winged angel.

I, the comet that warps through time, snatching moments from the moon.

We met where heaven kisses the horizon, praying that our hands would always find a way back to each other.

Bodies now decomposing as souls are set free to share the clouds laying amidst the blue bed sheets.

It is here where I raised my hand to God.

 

It is here where you and I became we.

 

We, the hurricane and the eye.

We, the desert and the crystal oasis.

We, the anguish and the acceptance.

It is here, within this very brief instant of infinity, where the universe decided that we’d be destined,

Fated to tango along with the rhythm of the spring breeze.

 

Learnin’

I’m learning what love is, and I’m realizing how little I know. Love

stretches far beyond the heart or any flutter of butterfly wings. It

Is an action full of truth, silence,

And infinity. Maybe I’ve had the formula

Wrong, trying to add pieces that didn’t

Make our equations equal, leaving one side

With more than the other. No, I’m learning

That love is a one-way street in

Manhattan, a road that you and your partner

Must learn to navigate together. They cannot be

Half a person, they can only be whole

If they plan to experience the true love that

We were told about before bedtime. That piece

Of God can only be found after removing

The layers the world smothered our spirits

with, each unraveling, leading to a new

Identity. In order to love someone, you must love yourself

You must accept you scarred knees,  your mistakes that

Only your moist pillow knows, and the way your arms want to

Twirl when the sun kisses your face. Without knowing

These things for yourself, and what they mean, then

How do you expect to discover and define them

In another? Love begins with the self, before it

Can be substituted into someone else’s game. I am

Learning that the next time love decides to

Knock on my door, I should not let her

Into my home; instead, I’ll pack my essentials in

A small bag and leave this place behind,

Taking a journey together, because love is not a

Destination, it is a starting point.

It’s 4AM, and We’re in Your Car…

We touch,

Like strangers underneath a mistletoe

A familiar scent fills my nose, and I remember everything: the passion we shared, the tears we shed, and I crave it all. I crave you, to feel your nails on my back. Delicately scrawling my skin, just enough to cause my hairs to raise.

How soft your lips each time I press them, your body touching mine.

I fail to realize how much I missed you until I’m about to let you go.

The walls begin to crumble and the sun peeks through the waking haze. The night has fled and our reality is steadily approaching. It hurts, we know what happens once we leave…

So we stay.

Fighting any form of tiredness or responsibility. Desperately latched to a moment unable to be shared any longer, our moment of truth.

Where for a brief instant, we are the constellations at the center of our galaxy.

You are mine, and I am yours.

I am trying to absorb every ounce of you that I can because, deep down, I know I won’t be able to take you with me. You hold onto my lips as if they were the teat of life. Don’t leave me, you whisper in my ear.

“I won’t.”

The lie leaves my lips as we depart from your car, at four in the morning.

Mistranslations

The last words exchanged

Came quietly through the hotel window

I mistook the chill for the air conditioner

Until I realized the machine has been broken.

Soft sentences coming from a hardened heart

A contrast between soul and spirit,

And yet, they both manage to come together

Clashing violently in my core

As I try to make sense of your silence.

 

Maybe it’s not for me to know,

A question I posed but the answer

Lies elsewhere

In the pencils on your desk

In the bottles of liquor scattered on my sheets

Or, in the clouds forming in our eyes

Draining our vision

Converting it into venom

A poison planted in our retinas,

Changing baby blue irises to virulent blacks

Unable to see what was in front of us,

Seeking the light instead of holding tight.

 

I know, I know,

You needed this

But, I…

Needed you.

Here we now sit,

Communicating with hands rather than lips

The carpal tunnel setting in,

Wrists popping and thumbs tightening

As thoughts are converted to text

That neither of us can translate.

Secrets and Skin

My skin

Is a treasured secret

Known by only you

Lips that taste of wildflowers in heat

The summer sun

Kissing our palms

Water dancing with exposed toes

Fragile hearts

Holding strong

As seasons change

But bones always find their way back home.