here is how we will do this
you will build a sand castle
inside my ribcage
it will become your home
i will dig a moat around you
slice pieces of my sweetest organs
to feed the bad things who would
want to hunt you
my heart will be your bed
you will find the stacatto beat
to your liking
(though you like it slow)
any time you desire
even while i slumber
you will fly
from my mouth
a free bird
spiral yourself
up
into your own
sky
you will build a nest
around me
once when i was 7
i climbed up to the
top of this jungle gym
steel beams shiny and enticing
all the way up to the sun
climbed because a
boy told me i couldn’t
i was wearing a
pink dress with a
delicate spray of red roses
on the shoulder
got to the top and the whole
world burst out in front of me
i was dizzy and drunk with power
as i stared down smiling and excited
and free
i lost my grip
my hands were too sweaty
fell to potential death
through the middle
hit the ground so fast that i
saw stars
every single bit of wind
was knocked out of me
felt like i had become the earth
struggled and kicked
tried to breathe
beat my fists into
scabby earth and grass
(breathe)
and then breath came
pinpricks at first
then painful sips of glass
then gulps of rusty iron teeth
my whole body felt like a bruise
and oh how i loved the
blood in my mouth
splattered on my pretty dress
the way my body staggered up
nearly 35 years later
i want that gift again
with you
i lift you up
turn your face to the sun
water you with the
morning
honeysuckle
one drop
at a time
as i brush your hair
with regret
quills
i offer a
patient hand
one
that feels the
brunt of all of your
sharpest
teeth
i end up
moored to my own
beach
stringing plankton
from my throat
watching it coil
at my feet
legs scratched from
the coral that would
have held me fast
salt water stinging
my fresh net markings
the darkness
of the word love
drowns
easily
in
your
ocean
