red rusts the nails of hate in my chest puncture wounds nested in congealed thoughts that slowly creep into the open space i created to keep me away and safe twisted up in my mouth is everything i want to say but can't fit through the vines i've wrapped around myself
simple and unknown, i came to you i unearthed the truth of me and let you plant my seed as i formed you leaned on me but before i could snap, i set myself free i caught the hands of another to settle me but you left your weight with me and i never settled and i've snapped
you ask me how i'm doing and i say i'm doing fine you ask me how i'm doing and i always give that line but i'm not ok and neither should you be i'm not ok and that's ok with me
regret stains my heart
and seeps through my skin
until everything is a different shade of broken
you've emptied your pockets into the deep
leaving me with your good-intentioned anchors
fish-hooked in my ankles
and i bleed to appease this sea of everything we were
but the waves keep pulling me in
i keep cursing your name
but hoarding your love beneath my breast
cracked ribs and cinched chest
keeping you close to the nest
i kept in its place just for you
little bird full of fright
will she ever take flight
--with disjointed wings jutting from her insides
she frets and flaps while bones crack
and her feet are fixed to the precipice of everything that was