This Is Not New

It never hurts less. It never "goes away" faster. 

The gnawing knot burning in the bowels of the belly
Is that where the heart has fallen? The heat of the unrequited effort
a molten lava organ
searing its way down to the epicenter
of the soul
the stomach sickness
the churning and twisting
the absolute agony
of every memory
every sweet word
every cherished fingertip graze
half-smile
soft snore
cute quirk
all are sharp echoes
stabbing
and
stabbing
and
jesus christ am i bleeding

it never gets easier. familiarity does not bring speed to healing.

the emptiness a hollow of a wound deep and dark with no suture available
or even capable
the gaping pit heaving and undulating, whimpering and whining
crying and spitting
and hands grasp the outer folds
trying to bring it shut
clasp it together
self-soothing
tears in the darkness
while scrambling for anything
to seal the cavernous
maw of pain
so indescribable

fading in and out
how pretty the haze
it helps
remembering when
remembering when
remembering when

head on the lap
a quiet afternoon
the swell of new love
the surety
this is it
we were lost
we have been found
we are everything.

late movies,
staying in bed
curling bodies
big spoon little spoon
face to face
interlocking
unyielding closeness

the screaming and ripping torment of sentimentality brings everything into focus immediately.
but had it stayed that way...

had it stayed that way.

this is not new, but i wish it was.
i could fool myself into thinking
"it will be over soon."








The Second Death

I am once again mourning the loss of 
What Could Have Been.

I have already gone through the grieving process of What Was
the death knell had been knocking,
knocking
knocking

and not quietly at that

there were moments when I thought perhaps we would pull through
the odd flickers of burgeoning life
peaking through the sickly nights
maybe we were not terminal
perhaps there was a chance
we could make it
we WOULD make it

a passing
dwindling
hope
as we continued the road
to expiration

the optimism of idealists
is the first bloom of
false spring
when it is still clearly winter

As our pulse faded
our breath slowing
to make way
for the
Death Rattle...

My tears had long since dried
The Acceptance,
a soothing balm
after the
initial shock,
the frustration fueled discussions
that circled
circled
circled
until they collapsed us into
a depressive heap,
the bargaining
for another day
another way
another chance...

The End was ultimately
The End.

I am comfortable with our passing.
Now I grieve for all
we will never be.

It is a second excruciating death
Far worse
Than the first.

This Tuesday Maybe

you can help me move that dresser out of your place
and into mine
the chest freezer can remain
just a while longer
weighted
with all the frozen meals
prepped months before
for our then
bright and splendid
future

This Tuesday maybe
I can swing by
toss a few more of my belongings
into some of my reusable
grocery bags
and you can watch me
brows scrunched
over your piercing blues
sadly?
with confusion?
regretfully?
with relief?

This Tuesday maybe
we can make idle small talk
while I keep my eyes
averted from yours
focusing only
on the task at hand
erasing my previous presence
from your home
one item at a time
I'll awkwardly joke
now you have your space again

and neither of us
will find the heart
to laugh

This Tuesday maybe
we'll want to give
or receive
a reassuring hug
a tender kiss
promises
that we can find a way
to make this work
anything
to make it hurt
somewhat less
but
we won't.
Not for the lack of
genuine want.
No.

Because lies do not suit us
and what remains
of our love
would never
deign to
lie.

Minnie Sans Moskowitz

The faint,
niggling itch
which began
at the root
of my
subconscious desires
wriggled its way
ever so more insistently
up its stem
fattening
its leaves
attempting to
unfurl
perfumed petals
hungering
to
fully blossom

i stood
wanting for the sun
of you

instead

that un-scratchable
annoyance
still persistent
unrelenting
and now
becoming the bane
of my muddled
existence

the itch
i
could not
scratch

always
just almost
always
never there

you
will never know
that you
are the tickle
upon my
goosebumped flesh

the elusive
almost
the resigned
never

your touch
is
a memory
kept
vibrant and hidden
fertilizing
the soil
within my soul

i look towards the east
but the sun
has since set

i miss being your bloom










Regression

I had been going back and forth for a good long while and it didn't matter how much love I had for him in my heart, I remained solidly... unhappy.
And every moment with me, I could see him trying. All the efforts to please me, the gestures he thought would put a smile on my face, earn him the recognition of "Doing the Right Thing" - there I remained, lips tight, body tense, powerless to tell him to stop, as I witnessed each and every attempt fall flat *splat* at my feet.

The feet he would caress every morning when he awoke before me. The rough and dry, sharpened skin of his hands, a contrast to the softness of his tender touches. A dew drop of a kiss on the tips of each toe.

I couldn't take it anymore. I loved him in the grown, adult, mature kind of way that women my age do. No pretense, no tomfoolery. Only truth and the matters at hand. I knew, without a doubt, I was the red flag. And he would continue to love me regardless in the same patient and kind way he had been loving me this whole time.

I had to let him go. And not because I wanted to. Not for a lack of love and desire. I had to let him go because I was yet still too unhealed to properly accept the unconditional goodness, faith, and affection that someone was giving me willingly without having to be begged.

I was hurting him. The way I had been hurt so many times before. I was the villain this time. And I couldn't stand myself.

He listened quietly. He didn't argue. He didn't try to talk me out of it. He mostly maintained silence as I spoke and although I wanted him to disagree, to argue against me, to fight for the relationship, he did not. Because he knew I was right. We both knew I was right.

I am not meant for the beauty of his soul. I truly wish I was.

The Biggest Blip

I've been thinking about them
their smiles
their eyes
their objectification
of what lie between my thighs

their clamoring
attempts to climb back into a womb
didn't matter how
or to whom

They
were famished


me
always an easy meal
enticing
succulent
almost always
filling
I, the sacrifice,
resignedly unwilling

They
devoured my softness -
bit and chew
the flesh of my
promise


themselves...
pledging fealty
to the warmth
in which they plunged deep
hoping to find meaning
in every thrust
screaming loud
to deaf gods

no one heard them
no one felt them
no one held them ...


in the end


and I loved them.
I did.

the handful
the collective They
who cross my mind.
though a singular
is present
every time.

it is Him.
Always Him.
It's Never Not Him.


The storms and sunshine
which we wrought
but jesusfuckchrist
the times we fought
Our sparks setting the
attempts at a garden
on fire
simultaneously watering
the fertile grounds
of desire
We were always too much
and also
Never enough
We were magnificence
turned inside out
distorted
brilliant
hideous
rough

my skin itches
jumps
his grin

earnest and true

the gray in his greens and blues
the cloudy gaze
of his jealousy
and
need
to possess

me

those late nights
together in his room
the line up into my hips
being traced so gently by his fingertips
a curved silhouette
against the gleam of the moon

I was only ever a prize to be won
an object to be owned
a warm body
for a lust
which was never satiated
I was the banquet
in which he fed
his unyielding hunger
in attempts to be sated

I miss Him
the most
when I am feeling
Unwanted and
Alone.

Dysfunctional love
feels better
than none at all


I think about them
The collective They
and the Him
within

I wonder
if at all
they
(all of them
but mostly)
he
ever
thinks of me














one more for the road

you appeared
in the hazy fog
of a dream
my heart believed
the dim imagining
my mind knew better
saw clearly

we were not,
in fact,
sitting on your bed
laughing,
smiling,
catching up with 
one another

this was not reality
only fabricated
figments

my subconscious
gave you a large apartment
with art 
furniture
and a mess
you were in the middle of
cleaning

you goofed about
in efforts to 
elicit a giggle

it worked

you plopped down
next to me
face contrite
voice earnest

and then you 
said
"i suppose i owe you an apology"

even deep 
in my slumbered state
i forgave you

my words
measured and
melancholic,
ruefully resigned

"oh love,
i never wanted an apology.
i wanted change."

i stood
i stooped
i gave a whisper
of a kiss
upon the top of your head

and woke up

Commiseration

We were both lost and broken
And had given up hope when
we met one another

Tequila told the truth
As we conversed in that booth
and got to know more of the other

The more we chose to share
Of life and love being unfair
The closer we soon became

The bar lights gleamed bright
What to do with the end of our night
Both of us the lonely same

We ended up falling tipsy into bed
But became better friends instead
and it's been oh so nice

You've since asked what of him I've missed
Was it the way he and I kissed
His heat melting my ice?

Was it his smile or his charm
the ease in which he disarmed
my defenses - one two three?

The way he unmasked my disguise
sturdy shovels for eyes
digging down to the deep of me...

I gave it thought, honest and true
I'd not want to lie to you
my newest cohort in loss

I tried to put into words
The tumbled thoughts which occurred
And all I could say was -

"The ease in which we spoke
the stupid silly jokes
I miss his sad rueful grin.

The way he made me feel
Seen, accepted, and real
My qualities and my sins...

I miss how he made me believe
in forgiveness and reprieve
That I had been absolved.

But mostly, I miss my friend
I miss what could have been
How we could have evolved."

With commiseration you gave a sigh
No more talk for tonight
Quietly we took our leave

I can't help but think of him still
Against my best wishes and will
I remain unrelieved.






YOU

I still miss you
but not the You
which is now
what has always 
been

I miss the You
who looked at me 
like a newly budded
flower
on a seemingly dying cactus

though I was always
very much alive

but I liked it
the awe
the adoration

so I let it pass

I miss the You
who believed in betterment
of self

even if 
somewhat unwilling

and it perplexed me
a moment
but I allowed it
a slight
stumbling block

I miss the You
who never meant 
or ever wanted
to hurt me
 
though you did

and I let it happen
because I saw potential 

galaxies we could rule
instead of the handful
of stars
which to you
seemed sufficient

I miss the You
who I knew you could be
The Universe
The All
The Everlasting

Therein lies the rub

I don't miss You.

I miss the idea
of a You.

you were never going to be 
You

you...

were only a 
fabrication 
of my heart's fantastical 
ideals.