Poems

Self Care Is Not A Fucking Bath Bomb The internet keeps shouting at you to hydrateexfoliate, meditateand buy a candle that smells like someone else’s perfumesTells you to throw petals in the tubpost your bubble beardand call it healing while your debt and grief still loomYou try it once, light three tealights drop some glittery […]

Shades of Blue Verse OneI remember that kitchen light flickering like a dying promisethe way we left dishes in the sink as though leaving things unfinished was our shared language of exhaustion and yearningthe quiet between us thicker than smoke and just as chokingI kept saying I was fine while my voice cracked like paint

Second Place Ghost You get the jobI get the email that says “we were impressedbut went in another direction, ” You get the houseI get the tourpretending not to taste rust while I compliment your selectionYou get the ring and the photos and the friends screaming joy into the air like gold dustI get the

Secret Heat Verse 1 A fire burning out of boundswhere no one hears the soundsWe meet where shadows cut the floorbehind the bolted door. Your hand strikes flint upon the skinwhere trouble dares beginInside this light we stole awaywe hold the dark at bay. Chorus Secret heat, white and hotSteals the only breath I’ve got.

Satin Voice Verse 1 Your voice runs smooth like satinright against my ear, Every word is heavydrawing me near. In the quiet hoursyour hand feels lightCutting through the shadows of the night. Chorus Satin sound, low and true, In your gripI fall in you. Every finger, moving slowThis is where we let it go.

Say You Need Me Money is one thing, I want that, yeahstack it till the floor sags and the numbers hit a point where they lose all senseBut the real kick is watching you bendwatching you stammerwatching you drop pride at my fenceYou come to me late, hands twisted, voice roughasking for a loan, a

Saints Of The Sideways Smile There’s a kid on the corner with chipped nail polish and headphones older than their shoesWalking like the sidewalk is a tightrope and every passing car is a jury ready to accuseThey practice eye contact with the cracks in the pavementmumble comeback lines to no oneCarrying a backpack full of

Salt for a Wound That Won’t Heal They throw words like cheap towels on broken glassSay “just get over it” and check their watch as they passAct like pain is a faucet you can just turn offIf I don’t smile, they give a nervous little cough.It’s salt for a wound that won’t healEvery “move on”

Rust Under the Lights Verse 1 The clock upon the wall is staring downRed numbers eating minutescounting down. Boots are pinching tight against the toeDust is in the lungs and moving slow. Boss is barking orders from the standSaying we are lucky in the land. Pointing at the ghosts of who was firedWhile I am

Saints Don’t Come Here I started youngsneaking late-night screens under blanketslearning early that my body could drown out any thought I didn’t want to feelFound out I could hit that switch and shut off griefshut off fear, shut off boredomshut off the fact that nothing in my day felt realBy the time the others were