You’d trot up to me like an aged horse
our pasture matted down by our footprints
I’d ask you the same advice I always do
You don’t reply, that’s never the issue

They get jealous and insecure, but you’re nothing more than an old friend

you intensify a subtle creature inside me
with sudden nuances of sonorous blueness, aurora greenness,
naughty yellowness
with the impatience of roots piercing the earth of my soul
this creature keeps stumbling onto the same truth that
metabolizes light tenderly for me to have a measure of my depth
suddenly the strangest of strangers is I

I've poured cement
On a love
That will never surface
Again.

I was the anchor to your voyage
—and you were the poison for my heart

growing up feels like i turned five two days ago
i've been fifteen for years
wasn't i twenty just a few weeks ago?
all my friends and i are still ten

the week is going by so slow
an entire year has passed

this year i'm turning 25; tomorrow is 30

i hope i remember to breathe

Your not so slender form stands
in the bedroom door. You yawn.
I remember you before the
drugs took you to the ends
of my life.

Old now, the reckless
times are gone. Still you try,
hanging onto the threads of
yesterday.  Tangents of
circles.  

You strive to steer your
way through the long sleep,
the crash after
the burning addiction gets
you. You climb into
tomorrow like a crawl
Into infancy

and you tell me it's all
right Mom.

Caroline Shank
1.31.2023

Can’t believe this is still a thing?
I almost gave up on the site because of it

Counts to 10, Deep breathes, tries again..

You come across a world, worlds apart,
A sanctuary to call my own
A beam of light, a true calling
Rituals of care, a distant longing
As this year ended, you decide to go
To the other side of the door
You keep walking, leaving me behind
In the unjust world, I find myself alone
Your new angelic glow, a darkness in my life
Death is a final farewell, the supreme call
The memories keep going and coming around
I cherish them dearly, the wisdom and the banter
I wish I could flip the clock to go on forever
Because this lifetime is not enough
Wait for me till I get my to cross this sea.