that the world is crumbling
like the dust of my bones that
glides through the wind, sinks,
and settles into dirt
it scars my insides

a swallowed devastation
that defaces the walls of
this temple
curse the church that
chained you
break the arms that
maimed you

make love to the bruises and
kiss every trauma
caress the chasms of your wrist
split open from the
the sharp edges of your sadness



but it only grows.

I wish someone would
ask me if
i am ok because
i don't have the strength
to ask for myself

i wish someone would
take my hands and
squeeze them because
they shake when
i am afraid

i wish someone would
dare to see behind
my trembling walls because
even if you cared
i would refuse it

like blood in the mouth or
seawater in the throat, i
feel a caustic wrongness, a
constant creaking at the
hinges of the soul, an
invasion of my depths that
feel the scraping of their flesh from
greedy words and arms

an unrelenting bitterness
on the tip of my tongue
pieces of glass line my gum and
i bite down to taste the
wounded grin

rotten as old bones
i hide behind a cloak and
feed the dust

family is such a
strange word when
you are a constant foreigner
regardless of the
sameness of your blood

navigate

I trace the map on my arm,
the ridges of my wrists where
the land trembled and
shuddered with sadness

I am made of constellations of
despair, a dust-filled universe
throbbing with stars that
stab the darkness

I light a fire in my heart to
burn its secret pages
I untie its strings to
hear it sing

I grasp the rudder of the
ship that sails my veins
evade the rocks, endure the
clothed and roaring sea

I voyage alone but give this plea:
Traverse the sorrows with me.

I recall moments
where the tears of the world
well up as oceans
inside my chest

I feel it heave, sigh
I listen to it wrestle and
groan, restless in the
wake of its wound

Let me be your river to
carry your pain
let me soothe your scars,
absorb the blood,
diffuse it within my
stream

Let me bear the bullet
strangled within the burden
let me mend you with
open arms, let me
breathe your fragrance
exhale the poison hurt

I will be your dark
so you can be my light

matchstick

i keep my pain
like crumpled little secrets.
most days i forget about the
cluttered mess littering
my hollow insides
but sometimes all it takes is a
sorrowed spark to ignite the
paper storm until my
secrets leave me scorched