Light-hearted
You could say he was the Eliot to my Margo
Knew we both had the same screw loose
When this scrawny character avengin’ his sister
Went ape shit shirtless covered in blood
And we were both turned On
How we’d aggressively profess our love for each other
In the most un-Christian ways we possibly could
A straight face contest
I said if the price of bringin’ him into the world
Were releasin’ every misfortune on Earth
I’d do it over and over and over
He said he’d rather build a throne of corpses in Hell
If that’s where I’m at
Then know a single moment of peace in Heaven
Like deuces bitch change of management
I said I loved him so much
I could eat him, then throw him up
Just so I could eat him again
And he was like as a Woman should!
We are One in all things 😀
Made quite the pair in red
Watched me break necks
The first and only time I wore a dress
Showed any shape or skin
Rollin’ solo to the school dance
Uninterested causin’ problems stirrin’ up shit
I smiled when my beautiful little homewrecker
Showed me his trail of conquests
A daisy chain of I Swear I’m Straight
This is Just a One Time Thing
I Have a Girlfriend
We all heal in different ways
I asked, and he said Meh
You’re always right
We always spent time
At his house instead of goin’ out
‘Cause he was lookin’ after his single mom’s kids
The eldest always coparents
As his dad knocked her up with him and split
For a good God fearin’ white chick
And as his half dressed unbrushed little sister
High on chicken nuggets and popsicles
Jumped into my lap completely immodest
Just to drape my hair over her head
And touch my jewelry and bones
Then her own
Showed me her sticky grabby toes
He said I was the first big girl she’d seen besides their mom
So she didn’t know how to act
And I was like this is fine
He’d hide on the flipside of the custody arrangement
So we’d meet online in our favorite rainy jungle crater
Someplace so far from here, sky misty and grey
Giants thunderin’ by
I’d taken him there that one time
So I could show him there was so much life
Well he never did have to speak his mind
We always just as easily sat in silence
But I assured him one night
That he’d find real love someday
And he said he already knew what real love is
He wouldn’t cry or hold his breath for some dick
Who’d only ever be less than half the man I am
So I said if I ever have children
And they’re not you I’ll be bitterly disappointed
Who gives a fuck what your father says
The two of us standin’ in the rain
Any storm was call to mass, digital or otherwise
Everyone always remarked of us
That they could tell at great distance
When we were together
The most joyful clamor of laughter
Ringin’ out across the halls and compound
Through the walls
Louder than any church bells
.
Girls Be Like
Speakin’ of popsicles
I’d drop pretty desert stones on her desk
And walk off nonchalant
Until one day she put a rock on my desk too
So we were friends
She was weird. I was weird.
We had notebooks of letters between us
Stories and doodles, every strange thought
Lyrics to horror songs
You know time is an illusion when it’s real
You’ll look back and I’ve always been there
We’d sneak off campus into the ghetto
To our favorite overgrown lot
Left bare after a meth trailer burned down
For no other reason than to eat a carne asada burrito
And all the snacks she wasn’t allowed to have at the house
Lest she get called a fat whore or some such remark
And I’d just hold her and pet her hair and talk
Play with her hands and arms under green branches so rare
Say that here with the palo verde and mesquite and taily grass
We could imagine another place
Acted like I didn’t notice
All the scabs and thin pink scars
When she told me she’d stood there in the dark
Holdin’ a pillow while her kidnapper slept
Who’d been confiscatin’ all her paychecks
As compensation for the food and roof over her head
I said I was so proud
Not because she didn’t do it
But because she stood up for herself
That meant on some level
She knew she deserved better
And that’s self worth
And she said she couldn’t see a future
Beyond indentured servitude and desert glare
Just black
So I said Bet
And stole her from that house under cover of darkness
Took her most important stuff and also the cats
Washed her of guilt
About leavin’ her brother behind
Because he would never stand on his own
And if she tried to carry him, she’d drown
It is not wrong to choose survival
Especially over someone incapable of reciprocal sacrifice
Well of course we swore a literal blood oath
With the infamous razors and a fairly fancy cup
That we’d be sisters in every life
That long ago we must have died side by side
And we’d be together when it’s time
And it meant more than she ever realized
When she said I was the only reason
She knew what a mother’s touch felt like
.
Sailor Cosmos
Our worlds couldn’t’ve been more different
She came from a sweepin’ landscape
Of multimillion dollar mansions on hills
Traipsed by coyotes and javelinas
Type of house had real walls, a pool, a bar, and a prize cactus collection
Top marks from a good high school, big heart, brassy, marchin’ band
Strong, vibrant, passionate, loyal, and generous, I could go on
Oh I’m the best friend first to say your man isn’t good enough
If he trips up even once
But as we met in college, she never saw
My pathetic and worthless origins
What she saw was me
Or what was left between bouts
Round after round with my Night Sky I never spoke on
I’d walk out of the cold and dark
From my little apartment on the edge of town
To be a normal girl
And we’d prepare dinners together, chef-y stuff
Play games and talk at length about everythin’ under the sun
And quite a bit under the under, we were not shy about trauma
Cuddle for hours
Her psych major boyfriend (now husband) used to say
That I was such a good listener
That I listened so well
People immediately calmed down
Just because I was there
I remembered every detail
Well that last semester I was so pressed
To find a job, any job, to support myself
Dreadin’ the specter of Home
An impendin’ mountain of debt
That I just stopped, I just couldn’t anymore
I thought it was a joke
When the University told me I was chosen
To be among the top 3% of graduates
To receive some prestigious award for excellence
As I had never before experienced recognition
Aside from my best friend, but that’s like
A mom sayin’ my kid is the best kid
Like Jesus stop tellin’ everyone I’m the best poet you’ve ever read
How do you even say that with such confidence shit
Crayon pictures on the fridge shit
Not that it mattered in the end
For the drama I guess
Instead
I chose to focus
On preservin’ my last pile of bright things
Before I had to put them all away
We drank and teamed up in Borderlands
Instead of studyin’ for finals
Smooshed right up like pigeons on a power line
While her somehow both quiet and gregarious boyfriend kept an eye on us
From over top his group of friends playin’ cards
Two girls bein’ red wine philosophers
And she told me about her main girl Sailor Moon
How in the final manga arc she must battle Chaos
Absolute darkness and nothingness which predates existence
And instead of runnin’ away, she goes all in for her friends
She is unmade and yet
Her soul binds to the Galaxy Cauldron
She and the darkness become One
Her form is perfected
She becomes a constant
So even though strife and destruction cannot be prevented
Neither can the void stop her from bein’ born
Even from total loss, game over
She will always be born, over and over and over
The Silver Crystal draws its power from the heart
Of an ordinary girl
The unrelentin’ force of Pure Love
She resurrects herself and everyone else
Every star and planet, warp and weft, form to the formless
With her final attack
And she said it always made her so sad
Love’s perfection in the Black
Because if she has the power to save everyone
That means no one can save her
She must be the loneliest girl in the universe
wyrdwind 