Sometimes the photos with the least detail, come with the best stories.

The other day,
a man driving on the wrong side of the road
crashed into a pick up truck, killing himself instantly.
It reminds me of how you'll leave.
Lately, I've found myself drifting onto the left lane
and it makes me wonder about all of the people
that have died this way,
if they just couldn't tell their left from their right
or if they, too, were trying to go back to the past.

Trying to love other people begins to exhaust me
the third time I walk into the ring wanting a knock-out
and find two people cowering in opposite corners

with their gloves on.

Next time,
I will come to you bare knuckled.

we will pretend to circle each other
              pretend to

I want to love you without having to admit it.

                                spar kick punch

You never look better than when you've got blood smeared
over your front teeth, stringy curls in your eyes,
and bruised knuckles pressed to the cut above your lips

Next time,
I won't hand write it first.

Medical school and boxing are the same thing:
a desperate swing when you're back into a corner
roads and rivers and highways
                                                      I want to love you without getting hurt.
away from                                                             me.

Before the match is over:
seven years and I still dream of the single moment before
                                                                                          you kiss me
a bloodied hand in my hair, a stethoscope cold against my chest,
our boxing gloves hung up side by side in the closet.



                                                  and the Winner.

Hello.
One word.
Two syllables.

A knife through the air of silence.
An enemy of loneliness.
The word itself could bring hope to the hopless.
A smile to the smileless.
A friend to the friendless.

Hello.
A simple word could lead to million things,
it can bring you joy,
love,
heartbreak,
but it could also make you fall
                                                   *a
                                                       p
                                                          *­ a
                                                            ­r
                                                            ­   t

Rip you to shreds.
Tear your heart out.
Leave tears streaming down your face.
For hello is a undecided thing;
Nor friend or enemy.

It's just hello.

A word,
the beginning of a story.

I bet we're going to kiss like addicts hungry for a hit and I'm sorry I'm not made of much except bruises and bleeding knuckles. Your words mostly touch me but I'm begging for your hands to instead. My mind used to be made up of cemeteries and all I thought about was writing eulogies to how dead I felt inside.
I want you to stain my teeth and leave your taste in my mouth permanently. I want you to swallow me whole and take me daily like I'm apart of your well being like you are for me.
A lot of the time I want you naked and quivering for me and a lot of the time I want you wrapped around me so tightly that nothing could tear you apart from me like this ******* distance is right now. I want my name bruised down your spine so you don't leave yourself in ruins.
This is messy and scattered but so are we and I love you more that I know how to breathe.

Even in the feeblest attempts of discovering the self,
I am immersed in the sheer beauty of this life...

and i have found momentum in getting out
of my bed in the morning, even if you're not
around. i can still put a place holder on my
heart that isn't yours and be okay with it.

maybe you were hoping i wasn't going to
find myself again, that i would have to build
my muse up from the ashes. well, that's what
i have been working on while you have been
absent. maybe coming to terms with reality
set me free from the emotions you tricked me
into honestly ******* believing and *******,
i'm going to see myself fall apart from being
alone more than i'm going to miss you now.

then again, you were the last person left who
even bothered with me here. stop coming into
my life and causing chaos wherever you go.

i'd rather go on a road less traveled than on
a road that doesn't distract me from the mere
thoughts of you. i'd rather find happiness alone.

- kra

Proximity does not lead to permissivity
Another day goes by right next to you
Another day we forget to speak