right at that moment
when the sun disappeared, I
should've broke orbit
instead I stayed in place — stuck
exactly where you left me

you came to take your
stuff — you can take everything
just take me with you

the night — swift and loud
crying of the long day's sun
about the full moon

it started raining
so I put on my raincoat
and the sun said, SIKED!

don't give me the faint
glow of a distant star — bring
out your raging sun

heaven's gate closes
the longer I keep you here
sunkissed, on my bed

you make the sun rise
so I look across the sea
the sun sets on me

To MB,

I'll love you forever, even from afar.
Just think of the sun.

Always doesn't have to be near
just a secret, because we're both
married.

Love,
SP

infinitely slow
yet certainly numbered — this
makes summer sweeter

**** I keep losing
you in the crowd, guy who looks
like Kido Taisei

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

having a blacksmith
for a father always set
the house on fire — some
children get tempered like steel —
some get brittle like charcoal

why does thunderclap
over a sunlit sky — feel
like an oath you'd break

but then the rain came
where each drop planted a kiss
on my skin — sweet, soft
and tender — exactly where
you promised each one will be

now each thunderclap
over a sunlit sky — is
hope I believe in

you know you've got it
bad when you check your watch and
what was 10 is 2

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

maybe it's not them
you miss — perhaps it's yourself
                back when you're happy

if they find rest in
somebody else, does it mean
           it's you they're tired of

ᴵ touch me
on my palm
like I'm a flower
you mean to open

ᴵᴵ touch me
between my fingers
like I'm a sea
you mean to part

ᴵᴵᴵ touch me
in my arm
like I'm a sheep
you mean to guide

ᴵⱽ touch me
on my shoulders
like I'm a wall
you mean to hold

ⱽ touch me
on the nape
like I'm cards
you mean to shuffle

ⱽᴵ touch me
on the side of my face
like I'm braille
you mean to read

ⱽᴵᴵ touch me
on the lips
like I'm cherries
you mean to pick

ⱽᴵᴵᴵ touch me
on my neck
like I'm a glass
you mean to drink

ᴵˣ touch me
on my chest
like I'm a drum
you mean to beat

ˣ touch me
like you mean it

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

when people feel trapped
sometimes they're the prisoner
sometimes they're the cell

there are nights when my
knees write treaties on the floor —
of my surrender

like the constant tug
of February 30
I end up c𖦹nfused

if you didn't sleep
last night, did today ever
turned to tomorrow

is it because I
have yet to taste that I have
yet to
           understand?

Dear Finch; Connor;

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

Sincerely,
LL

To Cristoforo,

It's often silent — but it's there,
the cannons aimed above our heads
under their white flags and olive branch.

Love,
LL

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

high noon, I waited
for you at the torii
night came, you did not ⛩

silence, your silence
is not a void — it is a
warmth I come home to

sometimes when people
go, they do it for themselves —
so while they're still here
give them a home and try to
take them out of the warzone

don't ask me to stop
we've been loving, and hurting
so long, it's the same

does it keep you up
at night — waiting for the when
in WHEN I GROW UP . . .

when my palm is on
the side of my face
and my fingers curl
at the back of my neck
I can't tell
which
feels which

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

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 ⚘

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

if I can only
be happy for you and not
happy with you — f***

I was up, writing
my ink — cold and raven like
                               rain at 2 am

I was up, thinking
were you ever woken by
                    rain, at 2 am?
then I wished I was there to
feel your arms wrapped around me

they keep promising
that flowers would grow around
this wreckage — even
if a garden bloomed, this car
just won't run
                            the same
                                               again

lost — yet again — like
the only thing I succeed
in is in failing

searching for something
or someone, through train windows
that's when I was found

tonight I'm awake
so I can spend tomorrow
feeling so sleepy