I smile just enough
and I talk just enough to
keep the questions out

leaves fall like ashes
touching the ground like tancho
flowers spring from it

tell me where, tell me
when I can find happiness —
so I can go there

Dear Finch; Connor;

I'm not sorry you did it
but I'm sorry we failed you.

Sincerely,
LL

that's when I knew you're
good for me — I liked myself
more for liking you

two sticks — you lit one
offered me your cig — wished you
meant        your bed             instead

I fall fast as if
a star from a dream, did you
see — the TRAIL of LIGHT

the world's a tightrope —
I fear nothing when we're each
other's counterweight

I chase with my eyes
what my hands cannot touch — I'm
left empty-handed

my brain's a chem lab
and the chemist is asleep
— HELP THERE IS A FIRE!

to my summer breeze
heavy rain and quiet night —
lie down next to me

my head hurts so bad
tired of explaining myself
thought you'd understand

empty bed, half-light
didn't mind sleeping alone
'til we did last night

W,

I don't think I'll ever trust you with my heart again.

Love,
ML

our time came and went
like the few seconds of peace
in-between bullets

am I good for you?
I'm not even good for me
— just think about that

if only you were
gentler I wouldn't be scared
to get it wrong — try

what we see as change
when green summer leaves turn brown
is really just growth

always a lone chair
at every table — am I
meant to be alone?

got so depressed in
the middle of changing sheets
I slept without one
                                   (for months)

I'm gravitated
like rain from a thundercloud
falling to the earth

wrong sh_t all the time
a fish is caught in its mouth
I'M the f_cking fish

wish I knew first off
that facing your fears — sometimes
means facing yourself

ᴵ one day, you came and
took all the plants that wilted
and made them blossom

ᴵᴵ you took all the plants
that I can't make flower and
made them bear good fruit

ᴵᴵᴵ when my kindness to
myself wilted, you showed me
your garden of it ⚘

sun's hot, water's wet —
and skin was just skin until
I saw it on you

to see you smile like
Sakaguchi Kentaro —
is my sun and sky

sun-kissed valley wind
train to Madrid's not here yet
— want a cerveza

sit in the shadow
look at those pale, lovely hills
— let's have anisette

she can be water
GENTLE, or wine, SPIRITED
— here I am, THIRSTY

getting rid of your
memories made new ones in
need of forgetting

lights on or lights off —
does it really matter, when
either way we'll smash

I can work under
pressure — is it your job to
put pressure on me?

we're to meet at noon
I stepped out, hand on the gate
the sign says
                          WET PAINT‎

I step to my right
approaching girl hesitates
she steps to her left

isn't it lovely
the moon is afire — can I
hold your hand, and stay

though the night is deep
and the moon is alight — please
hold my hand, and stay

summer sun, high noon
little boy tied to a tree
it's midnight, full moon

nowadays I read
myself like it's in 𝕷𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖓
in M---rse, and spɹɐʍʞɔɐq

yeah, I'm twenty-eight
next year I'll be twenty-nine
— nasa'n ka na ba?

I cannot help but
notice how that thing between
your legs listen when
my tongue writes long letters and
my lips do all the talking

oh how I wish to
be kissed like I'm his first and
last lung-full of air

just thinking about
how little sleep I will get
keeps me up at night

ᴵ you feel the water
rising inches at a time
until you're neck-deep

ᴵᴵ you're underwater
telling yourself that you can
always hold your breath

ᴵᴵᴵ you've been under for
so long, you forgot what air
feels like in your lungs

ᴵⱽ but as the sea claims
the land every high tide — you
claimed the sea as yours

ⱽ you wake up in an
underwater castle that
you built with your hands

there is a void in
his shape within me — and there
are these spaces he
left wide open — places that
I have not learned to close yet

is there someone else?
she asked. I told her, yes, this
time, ako muna
          (I'm choosing me)

I used to want to
have kids, but no, not in this
dire economy‎

this war I am in
has a white flag, tied to the
barrel of a gun

'di ko na naman
nakuha 'yung gusto ko
— nas'an ka na ba?