I am a

repressed smile

sometimes it’s hard to remember

what heartache was like

Until you rip the band aid off.

I will not edit these words.

I will not bite my tongue.

I will not lose myself inside your soul.

I had bunkered down so long

and forgot the brightness outside

and how empty the space can feel

I close my mouth around the sun

she will not shine on this part of me

instead, inside will boil me to the surface

she will grasp on my bony wrists

and scorch them dry

What’s to (a)void

you fill my cup and drink my wine

and I relish in my dry eyes

It’s a strange kind of growing

Where at once I am not lost

amid your insistence

A struggle for breath

So that I forgot

That it didn’t have to be conscious

That it didn’t have to be labored

So breathe inside 

these parts of me

And scribble your relentless lines