I'll Be Venus You Be Mars Let's Be Planets Then Be Stars Let's Be Ever Changing Colors In A Galaxy That's

I thought I saw him walking by Out of the corner of my eye Just a trick of the light A trick of the mind It was just a little cloud Casting a fleeting shroud A phantom little lie He was not conjured from the sky But for a second I had hoped Which I have never since allowed

You say, "A boyfriend sounds nice"

So now I'm sitting Here, Embarrassed For thinking that's What I'd been All these years

All these Years, years, years

All this time Our romance had been ancient History

I didn't put you on a pedestal for worship I lifted you up As high as you deserved Which was, of course, very high What is it like in the sky? I am grounded I promise It was never just the idea of you How I wish you would touch me down here

I can't stand the smell Of Clorox disinfectant wipes They remind me of all The times I used them To scrub your blood Out of the sheets on my bed And how many nights I Fell asleep to their scent While worrying about you

I can't stand the smell Because I used those wipes To disinfect the stuffed cat I cuddle with now for comfort The stuffed cat that smelled For days of your final weeks The stuffed cat I adore That doesn't smell like your Death or Clorox anymore

The winter cardinals Have finished their work Of raising wobbly chicks Into fierce and steady Juveniles, ready to Graze the sky with the Tips of their wings And soar off gracefully Away on their own breeze A fresh, solo journey

The parents are not Left behind, they are Quietly content, free To fly wherever they please The male a radiant scarlet And she such prominent earth Tones, the blazing yellow Of their beaks like Flames flying by on the Biting morning winds

The serene songbirds Mated for life, they fly Side by side, sharing One current of frigid air Wings spread out together As they glide in sync With nothing more to be Done, they settle in their Empty nest and sleep freely And warmly with each other

She caught me watching her As she woke from sleep Hair messy on the pillow Naked under the sheets

"My little poet" she said "Write something for me" She smiled with her Unnaturally white teeth

Closed lipped I smiled back And grabbed some paper She stared at me as I grasped At anything to say for her

I jotted down lines Inspired by someone else She kissed me so deep So pleased with herself

I couldn't stand her lips And left her in bed Maybe she never wondered Who I wrote for instead

He said I wasn't the center Of the universe but I was a star He never orbited around me And I was strong but never asked

I was no galaxy I had no planets

But he was an asteroid that Got caught up in my pull He could never look at me Or be close enough to touch

I was too bright I was too hot

And I could not be cold or dull I was a wildfire untamed So I was just one burning star Among the infinite others

I thought we were art The kind that could heal Your paintings abstract My writing surreal Pieces that where honest And made us both feel But I wanted concrete And you've been ideal I look at you and see More than sex appeal Maybe you don't want art Or anything real I'm just another secret Someone new to conceal

For a moment My mind jumps to Another world A place more familiar To me than anywhere Here on earth

It is sunshine But brighter It is a meadow But softer It is a butterfly But shining It is a reality But fleeting

I try to hold on It lasts a second I try to keep it inside My flowing brain But as quickly as it Comes it is gone

I am remembering But forgetting I had belonged But briefly I was at peace Completely I am searching Come back

Lose Focus - Drew Alexander

“Oh can you count the miles between us, like constellations in your eyes”