you thought you could handle me
but i’m not here to be handled
i am here to rise and fall with the strength of the burning sun
i am illumination filling your skies
and the utter blackness you fear at night

i am not a puzzle waiting for you to put me back together
i am strong, dark and heavy
a…

who taught you to walk like that
with sunken shoulders and a head hung low
lower than your highest high,
your mom’s knee-highs,
the bitter cold waiting outside
you’re two inches shorter
and thin as a reed
as if smallness could disguise your greatness
and lightness would make you flourish
as if…

by now i’m sure you’ve seen him
the boy with the clay
and blood stuck to his face
made human by a man with a camera
on a day as dusty as the day he was born
cloaked in compassion so sudden and short-lived
like feeling the warmth of the sun
from a bed of needles beneath an aleppo…

I’m opening up to you
My thoughts, my shame
My heart, my thighs
Doing my best to keep you
Keep you with me
Inside of me, on top of me
Me inside of you

The Things They Buried

Some things are never meant to be shared.