you realize, at last, that you can change without disappearing, that all you had to do was wait until the storm passes you over and you that — yes — your name is still attached to a living thing.

did he find that one last tender place to sink his teeth in?

the hunger to be held, to be wanted, to / be called from the streets like the family / dog. you are not a good girl. you are not / somebody’s otherness.

i don’t want to talk about it. / i want to lie in what little grass remains / and try to fit your heart inside of mine.

those lovers are mostly gone. My hands remain–: like altars.

this world is cruel to all things but its grace is unimaginable.

i woke up knowing your hands were once the only place in the world.

no need to unbury the tragedies of lineage. what was in the blood stayed.

ugly angels spoke to me. the blame, i heard them say, was mine.

YES, DESIRE IS SO DIFFERENT WHEN GOD BORE YOU HUNGRY.

i'm adrift and sunken and just need to feel at home in something —

i had a pain inside me and i needed you to deepen it.

i want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as i can decently manage, loving all the people i love.

& isn’t it funny / how silence can undress two bodies & press them into each other?

i guess by now i thought i'd be done with shame.

i am trying to stop doing things that don’t make any sense. body, / forgive me. i am trying. i am trying. i am still trying.

ugly angels spoke to me. the blame, i heard them say, was mine.

when someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. you just know that your name is safe in their mouth.

i had a pain inside me and i needed you to deepen it.

i'm adrift and sunken and just need to feel at home in something —