Respect

Respect
is a loaded term
an important word

Respect the food
Respect the earth
Respect other people
Respect the animals
Respect
respect
respect

Shouts, curses
rent
rip
load

the air

My stomach curdles
innards turn to ice
turn to mush

I tremble. I cry

rent
rip
load

the air

with sobs
and shudders

For that wasn't
a respectful thing

to do
to say

I'm sorry I feel this way.

Aunt Flo

Filled to overflowing
hurting
hurting
turgid
swollen

(like the banks of the River Nile)

one prick
one push
a nudge
a pop

and out it flows

flowing
streaming
gushing
seeping

out out out

water
milk
blood
mucus

urine
sweat
shit


out

out

out



until there isn't

anymore

Strip

Strip away the
layers the
scales
the masks

Store them
Junk them
Burn them

Expose the vulnerability
(Take the risk)

There is nothing too
dark
too
hideous
too shameful

to hide.

To My Former Lovers

You were all perfect in your own right

You made me feel warm and protected

But it isn't the same.

How do pastels
compare
to vibrance?

Would you take calm comfort to
unstable rollercoaster--

wild
hot
heart-thumping
pulse-racing
weak-kneed

passion
passion
passion


It doesn't make sense.

It never was

supposed

to.


And apologies

never

suffice.

Trophy Life

The Queen of Hearts
(such a lucky damsel)

but underneath the veneer
is a carcass

beneath the gloss
is decay

Tisn't always a perfect life
for a trophy wife

But can I have it
anyway?

Baptism

Douse me

Submerge me

Flood me

(but
not
quite)

Remove me from my familiar my

haven

Welcome me to the strange

Hear me scream
and

rejoice

Settling

Love does not
pay
for the utilities
pay
for the frills

Life
without
love

is possible
is workable
but is a day-to-day
subsistence

beyond existence
above breathing

Life
without
love

is settling
for
prestige money power
without
sheen luster brilliance

Life
without
love

will keep the heart warm
but
won't send it
smashing out
into

a million pieces.*








*(last stanza)adapted from Jeanette Winterson's Passion

The First

You were my first
love
my first
kiss
my first
everything

does that even
matter?

in a world of
closets
there is no
light.

perhaps we
are
too ensconsced
in the darkness
to unfold
in the
light