More Poetry Before This Project's Over

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Just a few days past eighteen

My mother told me

Believing in love

Was as foolish as 

To believe in other figments of imagination

I thought believing was an art

She could never color in the lines

Only splashed her paint 

On empty canvases 

She found on the street 

Or in crowded bars at last call

I was only a child

With naivete as thick as the bars

She built around me

With fear of rejection as my plea bargain

A childhood sentence 

That spills into adulthood now

Until a casual visit 

While I serve my time

Turns conjugal 

And I feel love 

For the first time

Looking in my lover's eyes

Your Lipstick, My Collar, A Faded Memory

The look in your eyes

Says everything

But to cast all doubt aside

You made clear your intentions

"I want you 

I want to feel something

Other than sadness

For at least an hour." 

Memories of your father 

Come crashing in 

Like waves in the sand

And your tears

Taste like salt water

Of oceans we once floated on 

"I love how I feel

When in your arms

I can forget the world

For at least an hour." 

His death came as a surprise 

But in truth, his health

Had been on decline since we'd met

A brief 16 months ago

He always thought 

We worked so well

I just thought

I knew how to manage your pain

Truth is, you couldn't bear the weight alone

Let's not pretend I was the one

With the hidden agenda

When I held you head as you cried

You grabbed my waist and said,

"Just one more hour

I want to feel safe

Just one more hour

Before I return to the reality of it all." 

I'll take the time in bed

Cloaked in past mistakes

And I regret that I hated you 

At least I had you once

And we taught each other 

As we learned how our bodies worked 

Between sheets so kind 

Maybe your father would be proud

Of the man you've made me