#NaPoWriMo 2024 day twentyfive

Bone breaking thick in the midst of the spin and thrust. Clipped wings and the drill sings. Tickled pricking skin punctured and stifled sensation. Thick rubbery thud of meat falling into empty spaces. The sleepy grasping. Foreign object. Disconnected tissue thinned out by needles and need. Pinned against the future. Shaped by necessity. The odd process. So useless. Such a strange thing this dangling appendage wrapped and bandaged. Weighing out the body’s damage.

#NaPoWriMo 2024 day twentyfour

the constant                                   some victories                                count
struggle, or                                    are not victorious,                          the losses
prepare yourself                            nor glorious
 
 
 
when                                             that thing                                        slaves to wonder
it is over                                        we're building:
                                                      fortress, 

                                                      home, idol?
 
 
please,                                           the re-                                             shhh.

sit.                                                 enchantment                                   the end.

    of the world,

    or our bed

#NaPoWriMo 2024 day twentythree

i was told to
feel it all
but i don’t think
i want to—
it seems like work.
 
do you even
feel at all?
she said to me.
i was too high
to think about
how i feel
i could only
think of her
body next to
my body—
which is
not the same.
 
i was asked
how many ways
are there
to feel awe:
you fall in love,
you climb a mountain,
you find God,
a child is born,
you embrace
the new day;
help me
to stop forgetting.

#NaPoWriMo 2024 day twentytwo

What do you say after five years?
What do you say after ten?

Do you even bother?
How do you decide?

Do you bury the past?
Do you interrogate the reasons?

Do you discuss the weather?
Share the new music?
Accept the small talk?

Do you embrace the awkwardness?
Do you require closure?

Do you have the time to try again?
Is there time enough?

What are your demands?
What are mine?

#NaPoWriMo 2024 day twentyone

You act as if everything is okay
And everything is not okay
We had the necessary conversations
And you left the house for three days
When you come home you are silent
You head straight upstairs
And close the door to your room
This is how you turn the ones you love
Into intruders or strangers
This is how you tell them
You cannot ask the questions
The myth of youth is that actions
Don’t have consequences
That the insistence on freedoms
Bears no responsibilities
 
I’ve never thought I was perfect
But I never thought I failed this much
There are so many regrets
My nights are full of them
But we cannot live there
I gather all my fears
And wonder how to invite you
To come and join me at the table
There is always room for you
My beautiful boy