hearts, scars,
and beauty marks.
carved curves in and
between
the softest frail sculpture
i've ever seen.
everybody's body
loves
somebody's body.
[the same way the
ground loves our feet]

my hands reach for the door
as your feet fight to amount
to an apology i will not accept
because i have three monkeys on my back
one covers my eyes
but i peak through the cracks
another cups my ears
like a glass to a wall
amplifying my fears
the last holds my tongue
and its double-edge dulls
as it lies in silence
and my feet reach for the horizon
as my hands fight to mimic a mouth

I ------ and I ------ and I ------
for a photograph of you,
until I realized
I never had one.
So I tried to remember
the ----- of you breathing,
and all I could ---- was
cloth creases cracking,
a mouse locked in a ribcage,
and
a scribbling pen,
because heartbeats
are too cliché

i have peeled away all your impressions
hi-fives and handshakes
all stuffed in an envelope marked
return to sender
but i am keeping the backhand bruises
you adorned me with
as signs that you loved me too much
and the finger-trails
in the small of my back
reminding me
how you walked all over me

the walls we built are an imaginary place
now i am surrounded by freedom's embrace
When the sun beats down today
I'm going to dance my life away.