confession: I thought
the THREE-BODY PROBLEM was
an old ****** case

confession: I thought
the word RUMINATION was
named after Rumi
                             (the Persian poet)

I have yet
to understand
what it's like
to have
had touched
and tasted fire —
raging

to have
had melted
from a warmth
given off
by a source
other than
my own

and to have
been molded
into the image
and likeness
of a space
I didn't
create

I have yet
to gain
the CONFIDENCE
to cast fire
that comes with
having had
tasted you

if you're looking for
CONSISTENT, search no more — I'm
                                  consistently tired

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

thank the gods we're in
a crowded room — I would've
confessed* where I stood

(*or came out)

who's to say my life
isn't full at twenty-nine —
to each cup its own

treacherous are my
own thoughts — for they are daggers
I hold on the blade

talking in the dark
speaking only with our hands
I found warmth and light

lying beside me
you're the sound of heavy snow—
storm in December
just the reason to stay put
curled up by a fire — your fire

even my own eyes
deny me of my own tears
— what else can't I have

dip your long fingers
in me     — I'm a lake,
                                       deep,
                                                 dark
veiled,
            calm with desire

if you really wish
to know me, know that I am
someone who desires

flowers and dried leaves —
these GRAVESTONES neatly ALIGNED
  just like office desks
    and cars stuck in traffic jams
      and spreadsheets with empty cells

in the end, it's not
the time difference but the
difference in us

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

can't tell if it's the
cold air — or disengagement
that makes mornings hard

living alone, I
thought the sea was a distant
dream — 'til I cried one

how long have I been
living a stranger to my
very own longing?

if I don't know what
I want, do I even know
who I really am?

when I say don't stop
I'm pleading more to myself
than I am to you

    don't stop giving in
   'til the shape of your back is
    the shape of his palms

   don't stop yielding up
    'til your secrets liquefy
   into his whiskey

   don't stop submitting
   'til you see the skin under
   his chin sleek and flushed

will you call my name
again, the one with double
letters where yours have

dough in the oven
and a lover with their past
— these things won't rise if
you keep opening it up
digging it, calling them out

I don't understand
how you can be more tempting
draped, than naked — you

you — standing still, strong
like David and Venus — un-
drape me already

I was a dreamer
you, a wanderer — you left
                 while I was asleep

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

YOU emanate GRACE
that to say — you're beautiful
would be           REDUNDANT

I don't wish to be
where you're not — your absence has
embittered life there

I have within me
a thousand year's worth of want —
and an empty bed

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

bamboos sway and bend
in the moon's last summer light
we say our goodbyes
                                  門
                            ­      さ
                                  よ
                     ­             う
                                  な
              ­                    ら

enter through the same
door he walked out of — that is
how
          you find
                           my heart

endless summer day
hoping by the end of it
you'll come home to me

teach me how to look
at you like I know exact-
ly what we'll do next

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

take me by the hand —
that is how I'll know for sure
that I still exist

they only see the
tiredness in your eyes when they're
mad at you for it

boy ran to the fields
and saw how big the sky is
brother didn't see

boy ran to the fields
and fell towards the big sky
brother longs for him

boy ran to the fields
his brother chased after him
they ran forever

setting my alarm
at 4 am, I wake up
it's 8 am, F

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

if you don't believe
in love at first sight then how
about now, baby

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

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

fleeting orange sky
stop — before I sing sadly
through dark winter nights

I don't tell you things
because explaining in length
things long brewing's like
standing at the floodgates of
a river as it empties

you only water
the plants when you need them to
flower and bear fruit

I take this ring, a
sign of my folly — so I
can pretend I'm yours

I hear rain coming
like heavy footfalls of my
favorite person