Overheard
a couple fighting
through paper thin
bathroom walls.
As I applied chapstick
and tried not to listen,
he cited bad asthma
as why he would
never cheat.
They left to share a cigarette.

I teach children poetry now.
I just want to tell them
that their words will not come
until someone has taught them
what it means to be sad
and they put their own words onto why.
Even then someone will say it sucks.

Feelings are not hard,
just say what plays repeated—
I’m back to haikus.

I heard
she moved in
and you send her roses
from the road
and you are the best person
she knows
and I wonder how quickly
that bracelet
got tossed into the waste basket,
what your brother said,
and if your eyes
still look like
nothing ever ends.
I saw the ocean
come in
and my spit go back
with it,
I just want you out.

Nothing you have to say
will mean much to me
in a year anyway.
I will miss you
like dairy queen grape push pops
and high school photography class;
You will be
better in my memory
than you ever actually were,
if that helps you.
It helps me.

Walking right past
a waving white flag,
too stubborn to admit
it will be impossible 
to see feelings
and connect bones
once someone has moved
or passed away;
It takes a lot to surrender,
but even less to waste away—
it is worth saying
“it’s okay”

Sitting in your car
you asked
“See how it bends?”
and I thought you 
might have meant
me,
but you were looking
at the moon.
When you tap the rhythm
of a song
to the beat of my blood pumping 
I want to ask you
to get the hell away from me.

Bills don’t pay themselves
and not everyone cares if you’re alone
or whether you’ve had enough to eat
or say that day.
Listen to criticism
for as long 
as it makes you choose or change,
but turn it off
or kick it out
when it becomes a nagging part
of your every day.
You’re really, truly, always okay
if you can find small ways to go a little easier
on your brain.

Books
have spots on shelves,
words have homes
in pages,
bookmarks nestle
into spines,
and hands
fuck with it all.

Say “Come on over,
I don’t feel anything, see?
No secrets to keep!”