"Why didn't you stay?" "Because I had to leave."

It seems I have taken the role of a beast
bare feet on November ice; tracking blood that's not mine.
We were meant to break hearts together-
now you've settled down to chocolate mornings and pouting.

Pouting.

We were meant to break hearts together.
Now you tell me that you are all talk
and truly too soft.
But I believed you- I believed you.

And now I'm the beast with the blood of your friends
dripped from my teeth.
I didn't mean it- I swear I didn't mean it.
My blood is fire with conscious regret
'cause I never meant to hurt anyone.

And now you are angry with
a quiet rage of silver
and one heart is breaking while another one quivers
and this one is begging with his eyes calling
"Please." Quietly, "Please."
Only, "Please don't walk out that door tonight
because I love you."

But I can't stay here now,
I'm so sorry.
No I can't stay here tonight and view my carnage on lit eyes in the morning.
Don't love me.
I will walk away from you, too.

I will close the door on your desperate heart and let you paint my walls in your sorrow.
I will slip past the sleeping heartache and run from the judging eyes of what you are
and not what I thought you were.

You were supposed to be on my side.
You pushed for what you wanted
and didn't hear a word I said.
And now your eyes are piercing up at me
from my own linens and telling him,

"You are better off without her,
she doesn't know what she wants anyway."

And all I ever wanted was to love you.
I loved you and you settled for the man who makes you safe.
We were supposed to be wild together.
Now I've become the woman I thought you wanted me to be
and I find I'm here alone.

I can't have you look at me as a beast.
I can't have your eyes that way.
I will slip them from your skull and between my teeth
before they can bore that look into my mind- no
I need to get out of here.

I can't wake in the mess of all my slaughter.
I need a stronger heart, a larger hand
to let me just be weak for a while.

So I will slip away onto kitchen tiles
I will slip my hand in between his
and I will ask him just one small thing from my throat,
"Will you please take me away from here?"

Moon on the fullest of skin.

This evening tastes of candied apples
but I know the time is nothing of
a broken bit of flavored Snapple
and peppermint to fit the glove

I'd like to take you in my grapple
your hand in mine we'll ride the plains
with wayward hearts for us to tackle
let's not delay, we'll leave in days

I wait for hours at the station
where planes come in and leave the same
and break my clock of eager patience
to kiss your cheeks and say your name

We'll fly the dark bank of Seattle
and kiss the temples of our love
upon the broken leaves of battle
we'll thank the tear-fall from above

for gifting us our flavored favorites
with wine and stories fit to share
and melted fudge between our digits
a sense of magic in the air

before we head south to the forest
where more will wait in open hands
with mystery set out before us
we'll halt the hourglass and sand

make memories of wild dances
and secrets sworn behind the ears
of bodies warm with open chances
kept dormant after all these years

we'll be a night of wild resilience
on dancing feet and cherried brain
and legs to hold our severed brilliance
of memories sought out by name

A Letter to the West Bank

My sheets are all soggy, as I slip through the door
Oh, I got inside just as it started to pour
and I don't know if I can think anymore
about how I'll never see you again.

My good luck is over and it might as well be
that the rain clouds came hanging with their desolate glee
and I hope you're not lonely as you set across the sea,
'Cause your dreams are gonna break the world.

Now write me if you can
and send me every word.
Don't be afraid my friend
I'll be here upon your return.

I'll sit and wait
for your phone call each day
and I'll see you in my dreams along the way.
Yes, I'll see you in my dreams along the way.


And I called you twice just to hear your voice
but that ghostly recording won't give me a choice.
My ruminations are a delicate force
'cause your dreams are gonna break down the world

Oh darling, hold tight to your determined eye
keep an ear on your voice and don't silence your mind
take pictures of nightmares when you want to cry
and know that I'll see you again.
Yes, I know I'm gonna see you again.

Now write me if you can
and send me every word.
Don't be afraid my friend,
I'll be here upon your return.

And I'll sit and wait
for your phone call each day
and I'll see you in my dreams along the way.
Yes, I'll see you in my dreams along the way.


I promise again, if it comes to this turn,
your ashes I'll keep once your body is burned.
I'll scatter your soul on he deserts and yearn
for your spirit to take down the world.

Oh your spirit will take down the world.

I have the arms of an olive tree.

I kissed you 'til I had blistered lips
engorged with bruising, and aching hips
I want to see you tip again
dip me down to the floor,

fall asleep once more
-but when I slept
my lips cracked and split
'til I molted pale scales
onto my sheets

and this night was filled with novocain
a popsicle sun
no I am not a popsicle
I'm much more fun

I'm in your dreams
I've come undone
under sticky sweet heat
dropped like paint to the floor

with each droplet you find I'm the adore-
able Babel and burn
turned to pillar with turn.
So remember to only look back
once I'm gone.

For Liz on the Road.

You are lovely in all of your
wilting and waiting
the banjo wails tales
of your trail

pulling me fast to the tracks
of your steel-toned
and toeing these stones
like the boughs.

Sing sweetly the summer
a slumbering under
broke branches
and fixating sun

I've a tune in my hand
with your ink in my wailing
old river
to carry me down.

A cliché for 23 August

I've got roses behind me
and stars up above
got nightfall before me
and nothin' to love

but the ocean, the sky
not a thing on my mind
but the clear blue breeze
at my side

A Postcard

I fly through the lone star open evening
under the highest of skies
the widest of skies

My pale feathers dip quick, pulling lines thought a
heavy golden green ocean
A breath of honeysuckle sighs
into my open mouth
forcing sweetwater land
into my lungs
I can breathe
Oh Texas

Out here where the people dare not to go
the earth still shimmerin' with saccharine glow
I stretch the tips of my fingers
the tips of my tongue
and coax the sea
into my body
calling, "Please, please, please."
only, "Please, please, please."
Oh Texas

I catch on a vine and tumble 'til my shoulders rest
heavy with exhaustion
Petals in my hair, blades as my bed
chest rising and falling with the almost setting sun
Oh Texas
I scream, "Don't tempt me!"
"Oh don't tempt me!"
Oh Texas
Oh Texas

I grin to the sky as its clouds make pictures
reflected in my eyes
"Don't tempt me."

I laugh dragging my fingers
deeper in the soil
I want sugar in my veins
and nothing but the green green day
'til the horizon
Oh Texas

I want to walk these rolling waves
with the feet of Jesus
I want land in my lungs and a breeze
that has traveled for miles and miles
just to kiss my knees
and I will fall from my feet
crying, "Please, please, please."
"Won't you take me?"

I want an ancient earth to swallow me whole
rest me 'til I can breath on my own
I know, I know I can't do it on my own
I've always known
Oh Texas
Oh Texas

I don't want to be
don't make me be
another ball of fire
in your gilded sky
Oh Texas
Oh Texas
Oh Texas