Make a wish

March 1, 2014

Make a wish

The night is clear and the stars shine through

like diamond pinpricks. They are the same stars that you see.

The pale starlight reaching our eyes seems young and new,

but it is ancient, weary from travel through such infinite darkness.

Perhaps this star just gave its last breath, a small cry from the depths

of space, before shattering brilliantly. We will see its death, so many years later.

The stars are far apart,

and we are farther.

tears

July 13, 2010

tears

if you lay your arm across my ribcage, you can feel these desiccated birdbones; perhaps you will wonder, like me, why they were just never light enough to fly.

maybe we were only chasing dragons, but if we keep trying, i think we can still catch one.  

i want you to look past these tears in my clothing and touch the skin of who i was, who i could be, and who i really am, but sometimes i become so pale that even i don’t know what part of me could be this cold.

if i asked you to, would you pinch me to make sure i’m not dreaming? 

these enigmatic eyes that i try so hard to hide are mostly filled with juggling clubs and picture frames, but maybe you’re the one who will understand what i mean when i think about how my life would be different if my irises were brown instead of blue. 

if you write your lyrics on my heart with indelible ink, i promise i’ll never forget the song.

maybe these stitches that were holding me together so nicely need to come out until i’m as tattered as queen-anne’s lace, and as pieces of me fall away like some beautiful anorexia, maybe, when it’s all done, you’re the one that i should ask to look inside me and see if there’s enough left to repair.

these yellow dandelions are my bouquet of white-elephant memories. 

this is me hoping that you don’t think they’re weeds. 

wake

November 29, 2009

wake

i.

there is a girl

in the dark water

in a pale dress.

she is dreaming

about me.

i surround her;

i am the water

that contains her.

her eyes are closed,

but she smiles.

ii.

they

stare upward.

their eyes are colorless

as they look upon

a sky

so full of crocodile tears.

it rains stars

and all we do

is watch

and watch.

iii.

you see a lily,

i see a rose.

which of us is right?

iv.

these are the borderlands.

i float between them.

i rock in a gentle current.

suddenly

i am the girl i dreamed of,

the one who,

in my dream,

had dreamed of me.

i’m sure

you can see this

alice-in-wonderland circle.

so can i.

but that doesn’t make me sure

that i will ever

wake.

dream

March 9, 2008

dream

pale hair,
pale skin,

invisible in
the pale snow,

nearly blinding
under the moon,

a glint of silver,
a flicked fish's tail

in a deep blue where
the cold never fades,

and the night-water
crushes against

my bare emptiness