Brave
Anything, huh? Here goes:
I mean it this time. I love him, and it hurts.
I want to be close to him.
I want to have one good thing without buts.
"I really care about you, but-"
"I want to be with you, but-"
"I'm in love with you, but-"
He deserves so much more than I can give him.
He deserves someone who can
chase his bad feelings away at any given moment,
and I can't do that from 1000 miles away.
I keep writing sad poems for him,
hoping they'll chase him away,
but he just loves me harder.
He deserves better than me.
He deserves better than me.
He deserves better than me.
He deserves better than me.
Blanket forts.
He poured his drunk little heart out
and I told him I wish I was there
so we could drink and make stupid blanket forts together.
I love him.
How do I tell him that I love him?
I already have.
How do I stop loving him?
How do I love him even more?
He makes me want to tell my family all the secrets I've been keeping,
which I won't do,
but how does he make me feel so brave?
Things we wanted to say, but couldn’t
I spent Valentine's day thinking about all the bad things
I wanted done to me;
my fingers broken,
all my skin beat blue,
your mouth on my mouth, and
my mouth a bleeding mess.
I spent Valentine's day thinking of
how I want to burn all the air from my lungs,
how I want to cut my feet open
dancing on stained glass--
How I want to cut myself open.
We spent Valentine's day together,
or, rather, alone:
You at your house and me at mine.
And we were both laughing because
the sale at the grocery store
told us we were desperately in need of
a love that we didn't have--
that we needed to buy her flowers,
so she wouldn't leave us
like she does in movies.
We spent Valentine's day picking up stones
and brushing the dirt off
and pressing them to our lips, wondering
if we'd ever learn how to skip them on water,
or if the tricks we loved as kids
even mattered now that we were old enough
to try our hands at them.
My valentine shoved a plush bear into my face
as the sun rose, and she said,
here is my love,
and here are all the things i hate about you:
your imperfect teeth,
the last five songs on your playlist,
the way you talk too much about some things,
the way you talk too little about others.
My valentine stripped herself bare
in the bathroom and said
here is my trust,
and I know that you will break it
because that's all you know how to do;
and I know that you don't care,
which is fine because I don't either.
Your Valentine is writhing on a leather couch,
burning through her clothes in winter,
begging you to crawl inside and be the white blood
you always promised to be.
Your Valentine is wreaking havoc in the kitchen,
flour everywhere, and flowers everywhere,
and she's burning her fingers
and little heart shaped cookies
in exchange for a little love.
This was supposed to be the Valentine's day where she said
"I love you" or "will you marry me?",
but she's high like the smoke from the fire you lit
to help her see in the dark,
and you're standing in the fire like you used to do
on the video games you played together.
This was supposed to be the Valentine's day where
you didn't have to think about the color red or
the way your hair falls over your tired shoulders.
But you see red when you think about her--
But your hair is down today
and it's so long that it got caught in
the car door when you closed it,
and you don't have the energy to open it again,
so you just grab the hair
and pull,
and it falls over your tired shoulders anyway,
like dead leaves off a maple in autumn.
Valentine's day is over and
they keep telling you that
next year will be better,
and they keep telling you that
next year you'll be so loved,
even though love isn't what you craved this year.
Valentine's day is over and your mascara is running
and they think you've been crying,
and you think you have too,
but you're leaning over the toilet and
you yourself don't even know what is
bile and what is tears anymore,
because everything is coming out all at once
and you stopped caring,
stopped wiping your face when your mascara
started running.
reasons you aren’t going to kill yourself tonight ;
i.
you know that you're in no state to be
making decisions at this hour, dear.
you know that the night is for
letting the feelings
that are going to happen
happen without consequence.
ii.
you promised your mom you wouldn't,
and you can't bring yourself
to break her heart any more
than you already have.
iii.
you don't know if you're in love
with your best friend yet,
and you still
kind of want to find out.
iv.
your favorite song just came on
and you want to listen,
even though you told yourself
that you don't like music anymore.
v.
someone has to feed the dog.
where will the dog sleep when
you are no longer there
to let her into your bed?
vi.
you're so tired, love.
too tired, in fact,
to clean up the blood
when you are finished.
and you know how much
they hate messes.
vii.
the sun is rising
somewhere far away,
and even though
you can't see it yet,
it is beautiful.