i thought i was over this
that i’d healed my heart
but i suppose i’ll never be
that’s the tragedy of this art
i watch how she charms you
just like all the others before
runs her hands through her curls
why i watch, i’m still not sure
she says something funny
you lower your head
hiding your smile
oh, it fills me with dread
she drinks from your cup
i think i’ve seen it all
her spit mingling with ...
a great man was born
in dublin, 1939
oh, a country torn
by many a wretched swine
with more siblings than
fingers on two hands
born to a clan
deep in the lands
brought to a small home
on the wrong side of the Liffey
oh, but his heart did roam
told his Mam he’d be back in a jiffy
for how could he predict
he’d meet an english girl
Islington they had picked
they were married in a whirl
a kind sou...
“i have to go to greece tomorrow”
i assumed you were having another
breakdown or midlife crisis
“why?” i asked
your best friend’s mother was dead
“oh.” is all i said
because what am i supposed to say?
i knew her, of course i did
ever since i was a baby
brightly coloured lipstick and a
lust for life- the ultimate rejection of
her old age
am i supposed to feel something?
because i don’t feel mu...
darling, do you remember?
the night i found you there
six feet under woodland moss
you were too bloodied to care
i pulled you from the roots
the trees held you as their own
you folded into my calloused hands
i said “my love, we’re going home”
carrying you from the forest
a trail of blood swam on our tail
the pellets beat down on your skin
first signs of a reckoning hail
the years came and went
...
“look at us” she said
i’ve heard it countless times
unbelievable truths can’t spill
out of the confines of rhymes
“our reputation precedes us”
and that at least is true
because who would think the good girls
could have ever done this to you?
but i am sick of relying upon
my carefully crafted good name
doesn’t the world have the right to know
i share in the sinners’ shame?
with a sickening smil...
am i an awful person?
the answer they tell me
is no
but see, i think i am
after all, aren’t i actively
blackmailing someone?
“not blackmail” you say
but i’m holding on to evidence
that we both know is dangerous
isn’t that the same thing?
it’s for my own safety
that’s what i say
in case you try to destroy me
i can prove that i was never
the villain
sadistically i want that
want to have our fig...
if i look at old photos for too long
i start to feel sick
a nauseating, earth shattering
sickness
in those moments
before the flash
time seems to stretch out
forever
everybody holding poses
sucking in stomachs
knees creaking from the weight of
crouching
then suddenly it’s over
and they’ll forget all about it.
until one day
many, many years later
a sad girl who sits
alone
rotting away in her ...
a chill had started to spread
over the inches of my body
a fire had already been lit
you cursed everybody
of your own femininity
oh, how you’re scared
i would have laughed sooner
but oh, how i cared
because we were friends
or so we used to say
but friends don’t kill your soul
each and every day
and i tolerated it for so long
probably could for some more
but some things i can’t forgive
you’re ro...
“i wish i had never let go”
is that what you want us to say?
“come back, i need you”
but that isn’t our way
at coups, oh, how we excel
stage one whenever we get bored
and the consequences they reap?
a luxury we will never afford
it’s always for a reason, though
or at least so we tell ourselves
because what’s another lie
to stack up on the shelves?
of course, we’re never the villains
good girls ...
the city of stars
it called for me
with rooftop bars
places to see
i was only young
it made me sick
clothes i wrung
a smoke, a kick
overcompensate i did
for who i would always be
a scared, lonely kid
a low, wailing plea
the freedom is rare
they watch your every move
to speak up you wouldn’t dare
in case they all disapprove
the girls, fake tan and bleach
licking sticky, strawberry lips
like lem...