thursday night

i miss you. i miss you and i don't know why. i don't feel the same way, everything has changed, i'm moving on, having fun, my appetite has returned - everything's great, don't you know? my friends tell me what a great catch i am and as usual, the sharks have sensed blood in the waters of the dating pool and i am being 

circled circled circled

because how long can one delicious piece of meat splash about, arms flailing noticeably and failingly before going under? 

i miss you, god fuck, i miss you and i hate that random things jump out and remind me of you. and maybe i don't feel the same exact way and i guess a few things have changed, okay to be honest maybe i'm not having all that much fun, i wish i could just jump to being happy again and the fun isn't really fun, it's me slamming 15 shots of top shelf tequila in two hours because jesus fuck christ i want to be

NUMB

i am playacting at fun. i am the greatest performer in this bar and wow, another shot? sure. why not. the ones buying don't see past my glassy boozed up gaze or the drunken grin permanently affixed, frozen like a department store's front window mannequin. no, i am giggly, jiggly, and wiggly and i may be wobbly but i can see the hunger in the looks being cast at different parts of me, the mouths splitting open so i can see the shine of the whites of their sharpened teeth, jaws ready to gnaw at me, hands to grope and paw at me and 

fuck this noise

i miss you

i miss you, your chestnut brown eyes, warm and playful in the light, but mostly sad. so sad it broke my heart every time and still does even now, as only a mind's eye glimpse into my memory chest. i miss you and i miss us and i miss what could have been an exceptional and uplifting love story. i miss making magic in my  kitchen for you, watching you enjoy every bite of so much on the plate. i miss how we wrapped ourselves around each other, legs twisted together, pressed so close we were 

unity

i miss you, i miss you, and i miss you. 

i miss you because i love you and wow, not much has changed has it? i don't think i'm quite ready to move on, though i did give it the old college try. i can eat again but only in the tiniest of portions because sometimes my stomach decides to turn on me. nothing is great, i had to up my sleep dosage. i can't get comfortable in my own bed, your soft snoring was my white noise, i just loved having you near me, you were mine and i was yours and it was the first time in a long time that i felt so certain.

you returned my key, yet continue to live rent free in the caverns of my being. 

i miss you. i want to talk to you. i want to smash my phone to bits so that i can't contact you because i am staring at your name in my contacts, which i should immediately delete, but i can't. 

i can't

i miss you and i'm wondering if i should send you a message to see if you're okay but i know it's just an excuse.
i already know the answer is no. 
because i am not.

second place

giving an ultimatum
the addiction or me
was not my intent

it was an act of desperation
a move of futility
the last thing 
i could think of
to have a reason
to stay

because i knew
all along
just as 
the sun rises 
and as it sets

i was never in the running.


Recent Events

Someone commented on how I looked as though I had lost a bit of weight. They were concerned as I've not much on me to begin with. 

My cousin is a curandera and she did a deep cleanse on my apartment while I was at work. I pulled into my spot, already feeling the weight pulling me under again. She was on her way out, I rolled down the window to my car and asked how it went. Apparently, whatever was/is left of you/us has been battling viciously to stay. No shit.

"I gave him a piece of me and I won't stop fighting to get it back." She nodded and said, "I know."

She walked away and I parked my car. A spot I rented specifically for when you would spend the night. Oh well. 

I stepped into my place and it smelled of Dragons Blood, herbs, and an earthiness I could not identify. 

And I was hit with exhaustion. 

It's become a familiar reoccurrence since trying to rid myself of All Things You. The first time, I tried cutting you out on my own. The whole thing knocked me out in seconds, I could barely make it to my bed to lie down before I was asleep, heavy and deep. No dreams, only dark. 

The smoke alarm woke me up, the string I used had started a small fire. It amazed me that it dropped upon a bag of clothes meant for good will and nothing else near or around the candles was harmed. But also a lesson that I was an idiot and I should leave the spells and rituals to my cousin who was far more practiced and knowledgeable in that area.

I never believed in magic. The old ways of our ancestors, the Yaqui practitioners from centuries past, meant a damn thing to me. I believed in intention, goodness, keeping a karmic balance as best I could. I believed in science and tangibility. As a 3rd generation American, any semblance of brujeria in my bloodline had been watered down like that of ice in flat, flavorless soda and it would be silly of me to put stock in any of that kind of unknown. 

I equated it to believing in God.

Yet, I knew I gave you something when we first met. I felt it. I gave you a fragment of my essence. A slice of me intended for you to hold and keep with you, safe and loved. Since the split, I had not been right. This was no regular heart-ache. I had loved and lost ridiculously hard before, this was Not That. I knew it was something out of my scope of comprehension.

I asked for her help, almost set my apartment on fire, and then passed out. 

Lesson learned.

My cousin's magic is strong.

My home has been spiritually sanitized by someone who loves and cares for me, I am feeling well enough to eat again, and I feel the gnawing twist deep within loosening, unwinding itself. I tend to my plants, I've begun to straighten up the various messes, room by room. I miss you the way someone misses a memory. Faded, foggy, blurred by too much time gone by. Even though it's only been a few days. 

I am regaining my own strength, no longer weakened by my love for you.

Cord Cutting

I've not been able to stop. These thoughts, sentences, feelings. Not even for minutes. Even when I haven't been able to jot down every living, breathing, writhing word, they all wriggle freely in my head, against another, with another, becoming another. I try and fail to make any of it come to some sort of sense. 

In the odd quiet, I notice the quick clicks and clacks upon my keyboard.

After midnight in the city on a Friday. No sirens. No yelling. No squealing of tires echoing on the streets. Nothingness of sound.

I wish I was as void as that.

Somewhere, not so long ago, in a dream, I pressed myself against you, a soft but firm embrace and you did the same to me. Together, we fell into the waking sleep of souls connecting and the electricity of the event brought us front and center, face to face - rather, face in face, body in body, and it was the palpable just short of physical melding of something so far beyond our scope for rationale and reasoning. 

I know this was a dream because it is fading fast as the light of what used to be Us. There is no longer a We, only a Me and a You.

I am drowning in the madness of missing you. But is it that? Or is it that have I lost a part of myself and this is why my stomach turns, my head pounds, my hands shake...I am going into shock because there is an integral piece of what Keeps Me Partially Whole not in place. I would like it back, please. Pack it up, wrap it gently - or not, leave it in a paper sack or store it in a gift shop box, I could care less how it finds its way home to me. I will happily and immediately give yours to you because I aim to cut any and all cords which bind. I was not made to carry you like this, alone and without solid promise for reunion. 

I don't fool myself into believing that you are suffering the same. You have your way to escape and hide from any and all things unpleasant.

I do not. 

I have the eerie stillness of a Friday night in the city, the clock ticking, the branches outside my window rustling tip-toe soft as to not disturb the quiet, my fingers tapping away at this rant which you will never see. I have myself, my resolve, and what's left of what I thought was Real.

And I have the strength to walk away.










When

When Breaks are Break-ups and there's no running from the truth
When the love is there but neither has a thought on what to do
When they try and they try because they don't want to lose it
When the writing's on the wall but they plumb choose to refuse it
When the words have lost meaning and silence becomes queen
They leave each other, along with what could have been

crumbs





i left a crumb 
of myself
behind

followed by

another
and
another
and
another

every few steps
in plain sight
for you

to find your way back

i remain hopeful
despite the dwindling
of the light

the dark is infinite

i've dropped the last morsel
the smallest bit
left

i wait

don't idle long,
my love

the birds are circling
and they are
hungry

I’ll Cry About It Tomorrow

I'll cry about it tomorrow
I don't have the time for it today
Too much time deliberating
Whether or not to walk away

Dangling like a carrot
Promises you don't intend to keep
I'll worry about it tomorrow
I need to catch some sleep

I'll cry about it tomorrow
  No time, No time today
I'll cry about it tomorrow
  When nothin's left to say

I'll let it all out tomorrow
I'll try and carve out some time
Too busy drowning my heartache
In this almost empty jug of wine

We've said our peace, nothing's changed
My heart can't bear this weight
I'll think about this tomorrow
Hopefully it won't be too late

I'll cry about it tomorrow
  No time, Just no time today
I'll let it all out tomorrow
  When there's nothin' left to say

If I could have just one more day
I promise, I won't make a scene
I'll have dry eyes until tomorrow
Just to hold you close to me

Almost morning and the bed is empty
Light slowly seeps in from dawn
Tears flow to soak my pillow
Tomorrow has finally come





Fine wine

We banter
years have done nothing
to whittle away
our love

It isn't what it once was

We are older
Far more tired
than not
Seasoned

We can laugh at our former follies
Joke about the flaws
Compliment the qualities
Mutual respect
and appreciation

An anomaly

Old friends 
who became lovers
Old lovers
who became enemies
Old enemies
who became friends

We've come full circle

And as you console me
with words which could have been used
decades past
when you last broke my heart
words which
are rolling off my back
and doing almost nothing 
to stem the wound
left from this most recent
journey into Love's thorny
territory

I know I'll be fine.

Friendship lasts longer
And you and I 
have aged
like fine wine.

Intention

my mind wandered
as the knife sliced 
clean
thorough
efficient
through the pungent onions
the stubborn carrots
the sound of the blade
brought satisfaction
crisp
against the celery

i readied the stove
flames medium
the aroma
of care
permeating my home

the once solid bacon drippings
melted
in the cast iron pot
small bits missed
from sieving
sizzled
crackled

my heart sang 
the song 
of the women
before me
all the heartaches
the miseries
the mistreatments
dissolved
like
animal fat 
over heat

the ballad of my
forebearers
fell on
me

and i felt it
as i had
before

this was love

a calming daytime
lullaby
a melody only
heard 
in my kitchen

and

i thought of you
in the peacefulness
of that moment
what we had spoken of
laughed about
agreed upon

intention

every dash of salt
shake of spice
slow stir of whatever
was bubbling
simmering
coalescing

a rhythm 
notes being played
subconsciously
and
through intuition

i could dance
all night
to the music
i cooked

and

for the quickest
blink of a
millisecond

i missed you




A Kind of Naked

my eyes 
grew smaller by the minute
i should have been sleeping

instead
late night conversation
next to you
side by side
in my bed
fully clothed
head to toe
while
we stripped down
to the vulnerable nudity
of our souls
the soft cushions
of the longed for hopes
strewn haplessly
unorganized
dusty
but present
unearthing
past dreams hidden
under blankets 
in the corner

my secrets and 
your demons
whispering to each other
co-conspirators
partners in crime
tendrils of one
coiling towards the curls 
of the other
linking
intertwining
unifying

and i should have been sleeping
yet there i was
naked 
in my truth
marveling at the 
stark authenticity
of yours

modesty
is overrated