The Child Chews

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you…I could walk through my garden forever.”

— Alfred Tennyson

Joy Sullivan, from “These Days People Are Really Selling Me On California”, Instructions for Traveling West

I am not trapped.

I am abandoned.

There is no fight left in my limbs

no fire left in my chest

Only the heavy, sinking knowledge

that I have lived too long

in a body that was never mine to keep.

I do not recognize this face

these hands,

this voice that cracks like old pavement

every time I try to speak

I used to scream for help.

Now I don’t even bother whispering

No one listens to a woman

who dug her own grave.

“It’s amazing how much damage can be done when you have nothing but good intentions.”

— Tom Marin

She believes she knows my ache,

she thinks she understands my sorrow,

because once, she too was broken.

My pain is

a slow implosion,

a daily funeral

with no mourners,

a storm I must swallow

so she may walk beneath clear skies.

She remains with another,

while I cradle her chaos in the dark,

I try hold her world steady,

bleeding in silence,

so she never sees the stain.

Quietly tearing at the seams

just to keep her whole.

I laugh when I want to scream.

I smile so she can cry.

I disappear so she can shine.

And each day,

I wake inside a coffin

just to hold her hand.

This doesn't feel like love.

This is a man burning

so she may feel warm,

and never knowing

that the smoke

is me.

-Cyrus K.

The World’s Poorest President: José Mujica’s Inspiring Story #motivation…

There are great selfless people in our world.

Sweetness 4 You

the fates can't let us collide

you see

I'm cursed

my days filled with anxiety

but your voice

god, your voice

it lingers in the marrow of my mind

like a prayer never answered

like worship turned wound

an altar trembling in your shadow

i know it's hard for you now

so collaps into me

drown me sweetly

steep into my very being

my body and soul is all yours

not even the holy dare to enter

untouched even by the divine

do you think

"would their eyes forget me

if i buried myself beneath the waves?"

I know

you do

you wear it like skin

but my love, your fate is a prophecy

they would go blind

before they ever looked away

they would die for you

bleed for you

the heavens would fight

for an eternity

to claim your darkness

and to breathe YOUR NAME once

though the gods themselves choke on it