The space between our awkward bones
is like the water you let in when it rains;
it's not a lot
but it's always too much.
Sometimes there are letters between your lips
that try to spell out words you've never said out loud.
Something about secrets make us feel a little closer.
I'm always sure to keep my lips closed
when tucked away words try to escape off my tongue;
I swallow them instead.
Because secrets also scare us away.
The air is different when you're in the room.
It's not any warmer or cooler,
not really dryer or thicker;
just easier to breathe.
Sometimes a song makes me think of you.
But then again, most things do
and maybe nothing about it has to do with you;
it’s merely a justification for the creases of my mind
being stuffed with my crumpled up curiosities
and lined up polaroids of all of your expressions.
I’ve imagined us old,
sitting on a porch together facing an open lake
with our favorite authors in hand.
Every couple of pages one of us is caught
with our gaze on the other,
and as soon as we lock eyes
we'll blush and grin and look back to the places we left off.
I've imagined it once or twice.
Maybe three times.
I'd never tell you that.
There's one continent on Earth for each story that you tell,
but I swear,
I'd go in endless circles around the world
just to hear you laugh at each one every time.
And I'd smile as if I'd never been there before,
betting on the chance that your smile might overstay its welcome.
The way you love is like a book I haven't read yet.
There are words written in permanent marker on all the places of me
that only you can have;
and every word you choose to write is one I've never heard before
but now that I know it, no other word could be right.
Sometimes I hold my own hand,
Rest my own head on my shoulder,
Run my own fingers through my hair,
just to imagine what it is you like about them.
I'm not yet sure,
but I beg them every day
not to let you stop.
I don't believe in soulmates and you don't believe in souls.
We can love anyone we want to,
but if your soul had a color,
I think it'd be the color I dream in.
