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














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’re not gone yet

your scent has left
my linen
and i can almost
pretend 
there was never 
a person
who shared
my bed

if only
these miscellaneous mementos
regretful reminders
of you
would stop
popping up

receipts
a pair of socks
a toothpick with the faint aroma
of
tea tree oil and
mint
random pieces of 
hard candy
a puzzle you  bought
for all of us
to do 
together

shadows
of you
waning

at a snail's pace



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

Pretty

"We can't help that we are pretty."
"You have known this all your pretty self."
"You have been granted leniency in life because you look the way you do."

i am pretty?

i would think
i would have known this
were it the case

in fairy tales
in movies
in life
pretty
is saved
pretty
is revered
pretty 
is respected

i am not 
nor have I ever been
pretty

pretty has leniency.

the old mans
hands
shriveled fingertips
nicotine stained
rough and peeling
pretending a game
up my timid
and frightened
5 year old thighs
i should say no
but this is only a game 
and i want to be a good girl

Leniency

the friend
of an uncle
who is "family"
beer breath against my neck
scratchy scruff scraping
my cheek
in a whisper...
I
Am
Becoming
Such 
A 
Beautiful
Young
Woman

and my 13 yo self
wants to kick him
in his gross hairy
everywhere
and run away
BUT

i want to be a good girl

Leniency

the entitled groping
ass slaps
tit grabs
forced 
wet
sloppy
lustful
hopeful
kisses
against unwilling flesh
while 
i
play dead
nerves flinching
muscles contracting
an anxious 
stifled spasm
of my soul

i want this to end
i am not
feeling
pretty

no

pretty has leniency

i am the malformed monster
seeking refuge
in the dark

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