On a rooftop unfamiliar,

A ledge so inviting,

Death’s warm embrace waiting

At the bottom of a

Half-hearted attempt to fly.

Contemplating,

Finding the strength to take

A weightless step

Then losing it

To the cowardice in fear.

Fate’s twisted desire

To make a sufferer

Of a good man

Or the fate of the sufferer

To become a good man.

In retrospect,

A life half-lived,

A man half-loved,

A memory forgotte...

I look at the photographs of us

And see your features

Etched into my DNA.

The way my face

Resembles yours

Makes my heart sink

Because I know

That these photographs

Are the closest I’ll ever be

To seeing your face again.

I want to tear them apart

So I don’t have to think of you

But I can’t bring myself to do it.

I just stare with empty eyes

Waiting for you to reanimate

From a faded Polaroid

Like my...

I stared at the stars above

To avoid your moonlit eyes

As you gazed a hole

Through my manipulative facade.

I

In hindsight

Should’ve split my chest open

And spilled my heart to you.

But in emotional honesty

Lies weakness

Because

When I admit my faults

Verbally to you

I must accept them

Mentally myself.

In doing so

I would destroy the

Paper-mache house

I’ve built over so many years

To protect myself...

The sun cascades through the leaves above

As tears dam in your eyes then burst down your reddened cheeks.

I have so many questions

And only you have the answers

But in my finite wisdom

I hesitate to speak

I hesitate to act

Instead watching like a fool

As your soul pours out from your eyes

And elegantly traces the soft curve of your jawline

Dripping down into your hands

And spilling through your fi...

Were it so simple to love you wholly

My arms would bear far fewer scars

My heart would still beat in tune

And my eyes would still have the glint of hope

That you said reminded you of the stars above.

For far too long I’ve sacrificed myself

For the betterment of us

But your perception of our joint life

Comes from privilege.

You never fought for love

Not the way that I have

And it tears me apart kno...

I hear your name in passing

Between the distant hisses

Of brakes on a phantom train

Headed for nowhere.

The station is empty

And yet here I am

Waiting for more of your

Words of affirmation

With only half-hearted meaning

Scribed between the letters.

I guess in my delusion

I failed to see

That all you are is

Smoke in mirrors.

The illusion of safety

That I welcomed so easily

That you handed to me

On ...

Crunch. Crunch.

My footsteps reverberate through this vacant place. The sound of my heart beating stings my brain.

“Can you hear me?” I call out. Only my own voice responds. Where did you go?

Cold wind whips at my cheeks, my scarf billowing in the breeze. I pull it up to shield my face.

“Hailey!” I yell. You can’t hear me, wherever you may be.

Crunch. Crunch.

The snow glistens in the sunligh...

She would hold her umbrella to the sky

And the crows would come

Perched on torn fabric

Wet with the rain of yesterday.

Steady they waited

For her command

The queen of the murder

The monarch of the flock.

She would dance

In the setting sun

And her silhouette

Her shadow

Would grow to seven times her size

And fly away

Fly away with the crows....

I found God

In the bathroom mirror.

He had a crooked smile

And only one dimple

A half-assed

Ten dollar haircut

That covered half his face

Ears so big

They could hear a pin drop

Two houses down the street

Eyes so sunken

That when he cry

Angels could swim in the tears

Puddling at his eyelids.

I found God

In the bathroom mirror.

He looked a lot like me

So I punched him

Between the eyes.

The mirror sh...

I’ve…been here before.

I look up at the giant spire before me, a towering, crooked structure of some otherworldly brick and mortar. Fog wraps around it in a gentle embrace, shrouding any path that may lead to or from it.

I step hesitantly. The air is uncertain, the ground is sure to be the same. One wrong move and the fog takes you, leads you away with its gentle hands until all you have left is...