paper harmonica.

Subtle sparks, dove-like dew on my face
Drowning in the blackout street lights
Counting time through windshield blur
Flash and stop with red and green
Telescope sky with sightless stars
And blind constellations
Candle light apple warm blankets
Lonely, lonely, a hum, a shiver
Docile dreams underneath frozen sheets
A sound, a shake, forgiving shadows
Repeat, repeat, rinse off snowy skin
Nostalgia hangs in warm throat sighs
Lonely, lonely, ringing in my ears
My quickened heart, my ending day
Harmonicas tie it all in string
The white falls outside windowsills
Sing, sleep, sleep.

i was also alone the entire time.

doe-eyed, ruby lips
and frozen bones
scarves and coats
breathing winter air
tiny hands clutching
nothing but pennies
rain and sleet
but never snow
white shadows deceive
and i wait for the hours ahead
only getting colder
transparent veins
blue to bluer
pale to paler
ghost skin.

the catastrophist.

The red numbers fall in line
11:10 falls shy from my wishful thinking
Streetlights burn bright two blocks over
And I contemplate keeping the wick alight
As I bend my bones to fit the shape of a sleeper
Sunrise fire to wake the morning disquiet
But dreams are foreign and my brain won’t breathe tonight
Restless fingers gather ink blot stains and paper cut scars
Syllables of blood and fiction, imitating light
The weight of night tempts swollen eyelids
But moonlight soldiers on throwing shadows on my skin

maps.

Gentle now, I’m breakable
And tangible, but you can’t see
How thin my skin, like paper thin
And dark my eyes, like currents

Draw maps
Through my veins
Blood flow to
Broken vessels

Easy now, I’m fragile still
And forgettable, you will see
I’m wearing thin, like paper thin
And drowning in currents