Soul Sipping

I know you didn't mean to, but you gave me something that you can never get back. And this would all be so much easier if I had been able to do the same for you.

No Need for Mericles

Dear Aching Heart,

You do everything you can to make everyone else's day brighter. You go out of your way to lend a hand or eat for anyone near by. You care sincerely and deeply. It's okay if you ask for help from time to time.

Love,
Your healing soul

To Be Born Again

It's time to start a fire, Baby. I'll get the matches and you grab the diaries. It's time to burn away these scars, Honey. There are better ways to heal than waiting for Time. It's time to let go of these ashes and wash our hands of this ache, Darling. Neither of us can move on or grow up otherwise. Besides these days are getting colder, and we could use the warmth. 

Bluebells Became Forget-me-knots

I'm using recycled metaphors
from when you left me

but

it's not you I'm missing now -
it's someone I didn't have

time

to know as well as I
would have liked

and

my mind keeps coming
back to you

because

you couldn't stick around
for goodbye either.

Just Let it Out

Just let the pain out across the page or in the notes, just flush it out of your system so you can move on and make the most of each and every experience you're given.

Just bleed out what you need to for the poison to quit flowing through your veins. As long as you get water back in afterwards you're going to be just fine.

Just go with it. You might even be better than ever afterwards. 

Return to Sender

Return to Sender:

I'd love to pull a pen from my drawer
and use these veins as paper for you.

I read your letter, but I

just can't bring myself

to hold on to it longer than
you needed me to. Darling,

I'm sending this back to you
without a reply, but here it is

anyway, cause I've gotta get it
off my chest and out of my heart.

This time around I am not going to

respond with all the love in my heart,

but I suppose after all this time
you do deserve a free fall drop
as if you were one of these tears
welling in my shattered crystal eyes.

Did you know I write to you
in every piece I've ever etched?
That there's something about the way
sun shines and streets flood that both
bring me back to your house all over again?
That I was more at home in your bed
filled with books and anger than
at home with my own joyful family?
That you are a tree in my garden
with a trunk etched in initials and stories
surrounded by roses soiled in memories
watered in your unspoken names?

A response such as:

I

I need you to know that
I fashioned your latest letter
into a lullaby I'll sing myself
only when there's no one else
to hear for miles. (love like ours
is meant to kill not sting).

II.

You carry enough weight
in the ink you bleed for
the both of us, only you
forgot how to pen my name
the way I forgot your address
when you moved closer.

III.

Sometimes I want to write back
so I can let you see the pain
you've caused, but to give you
a type of healing I was never offered.
To paint your face from memory
and replay your voice from starsong
are two of my greatest dreams...

and fears.

IV.

Please, return to sender.
Without a response letter

Just as Sad as Before

It's been a year to the day,
I didn't really know you well -

but for the brief time you were here
you were family and friend all in one.

I missed your funeral, and for that
I am incredibly sorry, but I was there

to see your body lying on the living room floor,
to watch the family gather around and pray,

I've never been religious or understood
the many cultures of my new home, but

for you, I made an exception, I dove
head first into a sea of sobbing Cubans

and wept more for you than for my own blood,
you are even worthy of a run on sentence poem -

anyway, I just wanted to say it's been a year
and you're not forgotten or missed any less today

than before, I hope you're well
wherever you've made your new home.

Maybe someday I'll catch you
on the rings of Saturn playing hopscotch

or drinking espresso on the moon
with all the family to go before you.

Lucky Study Pants

It's a good idea to keep a few things around with good memories and fun potential just in case something strikes and you need to pick yourself up.

Today wasn't bad or anything, but it was still nice to remember my own skin is good enough for anything I want to do, and it was a pretty good feeling - one you should experience more often Darling.

Looking Back on the Arguments

I am getting used to the feel of living in my own skin and I am incredibly grateful for the experiences you and your negativity led me to live without.

Don't worry, I'm so much better off without you. I feel like a whole new person!

Neon Light Vacations

Licorice stained gamblers take a chance
and roll the dice, but none of them
ever really win anything because
this hotel's nothin' but smoke
and mirrors angled a little too perfectly.

Whiskey wasted walls wish they
could share the dark secrets of
past guests - just to get 'em off their chests.

And everybody knows New Year's Eve
ain't nothin' without a few tears
scattered among the cheers.