she would sing me roslyn by bon iver

you say, your eyes inky blue planets

reflecting the dying trees

she'd sing me folk songs the color of

sunsets andflyinghairand whispers

"i sing sometimes,"

i breathe softly. you don't seem to

notice that we're so close that my

syllables tumble into your hair

rooting themselves into the meadow

of your scalp to bloom dandelions

you lock a strandofyourhair

between fingers the color of wind

i'd like to hear you sometime

your hair does pirouettes dancing

like ink s w i r l s in copper water

you stareatme for toolong and when

you look away your cheeks are the

color of summer l o v e underneath

watermelonskies streaked with rose

gold and lemonade stains

on hammocks draped with silk the

shade of

m e l a n c h o l y

i remember the days when she would

take me to the sea and tell me stories

that i was t o o young to understand

she'd rock me and tell me

"listen to

the ocean, my love. in a world where

it's not safe to be yourself listen to the

ocean because it's the only constant

in a universe where everything

churns like hurricanes. the sound of

chaosssssss is the only thing that will

never

change- "

the mid-october breeze wraps around

your cheeks and stealing the color

from your skin and bleaching

them into the hues of c o l d

mornings spent alone(ly) in pristine

coffee shops when we were just the

people watching

craving on( off )line loves to walk out

the p a n e l s of our imaginations

the trees l e s s e n

fanta orange splashes over rough gray

stretching o u t into the jagged piece

of a c l i f f

over origamiblue waves

so close to the edge, a 20-meter drop

into blissful d r o w n i n g

so close so close so close too close

isn't it beautiful, you whisper. each

word magnifies like glass shards in my

mind and my acrophobia

e x p l o d e s

and i replace "beautiful" with "deadly

(deadly deadlydeadlydeadlydeadly-)

the r e d of your shoes against the

smears of blue gray white foam on

the sssshore looking like (pain)t

ssswirled ssssloppily together

sssssssmudged andabbed at withrough

fingers tocreate amasterpiece

[ -from the white rose painted with

blood, "vii: safe by the sea" ]

i see water i see pills strewn out like

pearls over concrete i see ropes

hanging from the ceiling i see

knives cutting stars into skin

i see cliffs and gravestones i see

everything i want to be i see i see i

see i see i sea i sea i seaiseaiseaisea

the worlds fades into spiderwebs of

tenderyellowblue until even the

soundoftheocean fades away into

the blue black s i l e n c e

-[ 🌙 ]-