Snake Bites I Became The Viper I Was A Beautiful Venomous Biter

The snow fell on the earth Drew its blanket over the ground It brought with it the cold bite And I felt it all around

Winter sang its song of sleep As it darkened the skies But who sings for those animals Who never reopen their eyes?

Frost colored my hands Despite the fire in my heart I mourned in my blues and blacks Watching the life depart

Love and hate coexist together In one person A continuous fluctuation between Sympathy and disgust I want to ruin her I want to hold her head under water And watch her squirm

So I can drag her out Give her mouth to mouth Cradle her gasping body in my arms While I scream at her for being stupid Spitting and wiping my lips That were tainted from saving her

I hate her and I love her I hate to love her, never the opposite Never have I hated a person before And I have no reason to hate her More so I hate our transgressions I hate the wrongness we shared And the shame of it all

My hate is usually dulled to apathy The forgetting It absolves me, that forgetting It takes the two emotions and washes Them away I cannot feel one without the other

Lingering in the silence All the words we do not speak, Afraid to exhale thoughts from my lips, The memories I do not have.

On a sugar high You are filled with a rush of sweetness. A child who has found their favorite candy, The jumping up and down excitement Quickly fades as I crash.

Crashed, crushed, crumbled. I forget you, forget you, forget you, Seal shut the secret garden. You do not exist here.

I was window shopping for seeds When you appeared at my side And you gave me flowers. I did not want flowers, I did not want them. Just seeds to glance at from time to time.

An unexpected change of heart Your love is a flash flood. Pouring over dry soil, Abrupt and abundant.

The broken picture frame Shattered from false image. And I am unresponsive As you would be if you knew me. But I don’t know you either.

Driving through the hills A little after dinner time I speed in the right lane.

"Don't worry," I sound very reassuring, "I know where I'm going."

I need my glasses And I can't admit to him That actually I can't see And I"m a little lost.

He needs some reassurance Which I hand out like mints, Maybe if I sugar coat it He won't know it's a little harsh, A bit too fresh, with a bite.

It's too cold for rain, Too warm for snow So we don't know what's coming down.

But we are. I'm having a panic attack While laughing at his story.

I wan't to turn around, I've missed the exit. "Trust me," I say "It's okay."

So he does But he shouldn't.

I am a wave The one you felt On the shore I crashed over you And became water Once more

You are the sand The earth That I long for When I am Out in the ocean With no oar

We are the gulls Look how far They soar Floating on the wind The whole sky To explore

I am surprised by the softness And the intimacy of this moment I had expected your skin to have Thickened and grown rough with time I am surprised by the way I remember The taste of your lips pressing on mine Taken aback by the way we fit together Again like easily memorized lines

There is a sweetness to the salt Of the sweat that forms at your sides A familiarity to the way you look Lying wanting beneath my body I had expected you to look older But the love in your eyes is just bolder Are you remembering the reason for rhyme?

I had not expected your kiss to claim Not expected any longing to still remain I had not expected you to still be mine I had only imagined you naked and true Covered from head to toe in our rain I have been pouring over you all this time But I had not expected you to still be mine

I miss loving you Where did that feeling go? I keep searching Through my pockets, Checking under the bed, Did it blow out the window?

Or did it simply Get smaller, start to fade? Like snow on a sunny day, Maybe it just started Dissolving away.

I feel a kinship with birds and spiders One eats the other The smaller one is feared The larger one is adored

A bird is artistic and beautiful A spider creates beautiful art A spider catches its prey in the art A bird catches a spider for a little snack

My love for you is not Always declarations and Milestone celebrations Or flowery similes Of the moon and the stars And what lies beyond death

More often it is you Laughing across the room Because the cat farted And I am enduring it Because I want to cuddle Even though she smells

Poetry is just as visual As any other form of art.

The punctuation, the spacing, The length and width In the breaking of lines,

Thoughtful Arrangement Of words

Matters.

It matters as I am painting with letters.

It's part of the picture, The texture of poetry Is flowing, flowing.

Do you see? I ask,

D o  y o u  s e e  m e a n i n g?