keep treading water like this
you're bound to tire out
keep trusting someone will save you
you’re bound to drown
i only give one good chance
and then I miss someone
won’t hold grudges but I don’t forgive easily
i could forget if my gut would stop reminding me
are you ever genuine?
i might stop looking behind closed doors for
your intentions
if you’d stop shutting them
i’ll stop hiding under blankets
if you stop scaring me with shadow games
i’ll stop running up the stairs
if you stop chasing me
can we be honest?
do we know the meaning?
if your insecurities would stop screaming
you might hear what I’m saying
you always beat around the bush
saying a whole lot of nothing but your talking
doesn’t stop
your mouth is moving but I can’t make out a
damn thing you say
and I wish for a second
you could stop and I could stop
and we could look at one another
step over the pile of shit we’ve been
tossing all our faults in
and hold on to each other
until we can stop holding onto
who is right and who is wrong
if this is all we have
let's leave it here
let it live in this space
let it spin around in its own dust storm
you brushed it off
like a change in personality should
have been expected
like maybe you knew it was coming
i sure didn’t
the carousel we rode, a teasing rotation
made it too easy to jump on and off
you know I love you though
i know you love me too
we almost love too much to be angry
love too much to turn our backs
i thought maybe that was the case
but I think you just told me your
version of goodbye
could we just say what we mean?
do we know how?
i still can’t imagine life without you
even when you make it too intense
and your wordiness too complicated
i’d like to simplify with you
i don’t know where to begin
i drove around today looking for you
with no intention of finding you anywhere
and no idea what to do with you if I did
i might try to embrace it all away
do you think we could hold on
long enough to forget?
straight through awkward touches
dig ourselves out of the hole of ill intentions
passed the first kiss
the unraveling confessions
the premature devotion
our future gave us more comfort then
the present moment
we had catching up to do
i drove around today
i like the feeling of leaving and heading
somewhere better
thoughts come out when the coast is clear
when I was kid, long car rides meant
we were going somewhere
leaving the house of terrors behind
at least for a little while
my aunt always said
driving was the greatest privilege
she said
you can get in your car and go anywhere
i always imagined I would be grateful for it too
reminded myself to remember where it can take me
what it can save me from
watching closely
memorizing what foot pressed what pedals
what direction to turn the keys
R meant reverse
D meant drive
i wanted to make sure I knew what to do
when I had the privilege
funny,
I
didn’t
trust
anyone
would
teach
me
my body doesn’t know how to
do things without caution
spent most of my life in two gears
safe on land or drowning
i learned early on how to
handle dangerous situations
head down, quiet, stay unheard, unseen
but l i s t e n
listen scrupulously
are you staying?
are you with me?
or have you drifted off somewhere I can’t see
has the current taken you
the winds too strong for you to paddle through
the moon not bright enough
the sky not clear enough
i’m afraid of the hole that might
be left in your absence
like a flower ripped out of the ground
roots dangling and ragged
your body will take you in the
direction you set your eyes
are looking at me?
are you looking?
hunted
we walked around mountain tops
we stood at the edge of the world
i didn’t hold your hand
i grasped at the life I could see but never feel
i was tasting it
you were there
maybe you were somewhere else
it didn’t matter to me after a while
i was a hunter
i was hungry
i had my bow and arrow
i had aim
i walked on mountain tops
i stood at the edge of the world
i was scared
i was hopeful
i couldn’t go back
one giant leap in front of the other
limbs scared stiff
we smelled of red dirt
and hot sun
we wore the earth on our faces
and heaviness in our hearts
narcissism doesn’t have tact
doesn’t pay attention to social cues
there’s never a good time to be emotionally unstable
empty canyons
filed up with overlapping disappointment
wiser now
you don’t offer up how you’ve been
you don’t ask about me
still walking through ice cold rivers
unmarked trails
i still have too much compassion for you
couldn’t get out of our own way
better at mapping out the roads we never should have traveled
masters of web making
technicians of blame
our fingers always pointing in the wrong direction
we knew where we were going
we never had the courage to say it out loud
can we say it now
i was always up there
looking down
watching like a hawk
i was a hunter
you, an impersonator
both of us screaming for silence
i was waiting
for peace
for defeat
a discoverer
i had it in me
i just didn’t want to use it

