I am like Thumbelina But I don’t quite fit anywhere Two devout Russian Orthodox women are going to a NATO-ruled country to buy the world’s finest, pristine porcelain to throw it at indoor walls
The best poison was made In my father’s grave And I love him for forever hating the country I live in
I saw, I saw that you were beckoning for the sea (Told me you couldn’t swim, told me you couldn’t swim) I stood there, pink ribbons in my hair, on an off-white, paint-faded ship Thinking oh man, oh man He thinks I’m going to dive in and save him
When I unravel, I am Terrified Of turning into you I spit and scratch the walls so loud I’m scared the world Is made of you I stick my tongue out At the wrong crowd Oh my god, I’m so alone I come bleeding To the ER They say, I should just go home
I don’t want this to stop Me from meeting someone That would love bringing me flowers By my bedside when I deeply sleep I’ll never wake up To daffodils If you’re staying up late Working on your manuscript
I hate your brown eyes Because that’s my type I don’t want this to stop Me from meeting someone I stick my tongue out At the wrong crowd Oh my god, I felt so completely alone I stared at My stupid phone Like a teen Like a naive little Teen
I secretly, I secretly think you liked it all along Pulling me left just to wreck the boat Spilling my champagne and me nervously blaming it On the musculature of my skeletal framework What a girl, what awful weather To spend with someone who’s complaining, had me thinking, “this is actually my favourite kind” Lightning bolts When the sky collapses like it’s angry And bitter Writing poetry Months after I secretly, I secretly think you adore all of this You’d throw me to the eels if I didn’t know how to swim
But it was you deep down under the pouring, crashing waves Tormenting your most refined, well-calculated grace And I am one of the best swimmers this Earth has ever seen But there came a moment where I could no longer see Then, I could breathe, and you couldn’t hate me for it So in love with the delusional chaos of the ocean Oh, you hate it, oh, you must hate it That I have a God that knows my full name
You think religion is a brainwashing force Well, I think you over-dry your skin-tight clothes I ran so hard I almost collapsed, and I started to laugh So free, so free, should have seen me finally feel so free Not attached to memories Oh, you must hate it That I can be my own blanket That I can be a saviour That I don’t need a faux promise or a parched favour
I saw you, perched over, frightened of the waves You said let’s just leave, save this for another day I pushed you in because I trusted the Earth To swallow you whole and make you Comfortable
That was a battle I truly lost But God loves me, oh, you must have forgot
You must have forgot, What a terrible thought That I can be taken care of by something that’ll cleanse my brain
I think we’re Not getting too wrapped up I’ll get up soon To turn the microwave off
I think we’re Naturally not too wrapped up I’ll get up later To turn the microwave off
I scratched my leg violently on rose thorns As if I would ever mind It’s been a long time since Brown eyes, green eyes I hate when they turn hazel Like an olive tree Park my car on Chestnut avenue It’s a longer walk but I like the name Burn it to see embers Collect street signs All the rose thorns in the world are allowed to scratch me In fact, I’ll invite them with bliss Using long, Bambi eyelashes
Not a love poem: Olive tree (take your pick) [continued]
I think you would be Friends with the quarterback I never cared about football We could make fun of The way they drop the ball (Again!) Wearing their jerseys’ cos we like the material So supportive What a team effort I clench my hands together because otherwise I think I’m going to lose my mind
I never really understood the concept of romance Is it you buying me a vegan strawberry milkshake? Dirt on my face at the park and you think I look pretty? I have thousands of songs I’ve been dying to share With somebody They mean Too much to me To share, though So I’ll Keep them to myself Out of bad habit I’m the bad habit
Not a love poem: Olive tree (take your pick)[continued]
Show up late and get there just on time I wouldn’t get through security clearance with that Type of ambivalence I could Make a rosebud dream Of grabbing me from the interior and Turning me inside out So the world could know I wouldn’t get through security clearance like this
Not a love poem: Olive tree (take your pick) [continued]
What’s that? Is that romance You getting me a vegan strawberry milkshake? That I put in the fridge To enjoy my second half the very next day Laughing to myself Sharp edges soften My shampoo smells lovely I can’t get through security clearance like this
An olive tree Okay, I’ll be an olive tree If you pick me Okay, I’ll be an olive tree If you choose me
Lavender highlighter pens and derivatives of peptides You, sitting across the aristocratic table from me Bruised in a way that only you could contain I need a gold medallion for your table manners, white & yellow daisy in a jar Baby blue periwinkle Bambi dress, dress up for you Hush, I’m trying to study But it feels so lovely The natural light bringing out the specks in your irises
You don’t, really talk too much. You think you do, but you don’t Just enough Tip of my tongue In flames falling all over the sidewalks for you I miss you like white stains on my teeth Think of you wearing turtleneck sweaters in the mountains high up Cylindrical daydreams feel too soft, too hazy to be absorbed readily Sad thing is they only stay dreams Have to keep you far away from me Cos if you were to come close Oh, my baby blue, oh I’d love to really let go I’d love to just let you know.
Love Poem: Why I stay far away from you (continued)
You know I love you so much, I swim like goldfish freed from a little paper cup or a balloon Held by a child, shaken like a madman I want you on the highways, the overlapping freeways that make me lose my mind every time In Texas, in Calabasas, the swing-set of a family home And how I wish I could just plead For you to be the man I falsely believe I know you can be How I know what you need I’d love to just let you know.
Ultimately, I love you and accept you just as you are I wouldn’t change a thing So I have to separate myself You and me in the same room, that’s violence That’s you laughing at how I have no concept of what monopoly is nor how to play any type of card game It’s you making fun of me for the cute things I say and do It’s you making me fall in love with myself even more in a way only tenderness could do And this is why I have to stay far away from you.
Love Poem: Why I stay far away from you (continued)
I was seated in the Victorian chair, studying my amino acids Brought me the worst cup of coffee I ever did have I drank it all – okay, maybe half, I kept looking at you Focusing on your manuscript and I was smiling Jagged edges Confetti for a party that was never thrown Like a mountain goat, I could climb diagonally towards you Swim to you in thunderstorms Tear you apart by looking at you – not once, but twice I’m in love with how you look at me and how you don’t look at me and then you
Look up at me And I’m studying the amino acids Can’t get you out of my head, you’re the worst
A ghost can’t be in a coma But a well-dressed boy is a blessing and a curse
It was on purpose It wasn’t a mistake I got Frostbite From choking on splinters Peeling them like grapes
Thin as a needle You make it seem easy The ploughing is destroying the peyote And I have created a party for you, the reason for my demise I’ve been so intrigued ever since you rolled down the window for me to feel the breeze
You will always have the medicine with you Wherever you go
Poem: Choking on Grapes, continued
In Texas, I felt free because the gas was cheap, and I had salt in my Teeth Washing my brand-new blue jeans Wheat fields and a can of cola, riding in the bed of a truck looking over my shoulder Tired of having nobody to say anything to I feel alone and even though I’m used to it I still have to shrug it off, it seems A fig tree standing for no one
Pharmacology is lovely & my favourite toothpaste is by Arm & Hammer I drive to the nearby Rite Aid, where I get a lottery ticket for my mother Mixing up my favourite numbers I never win, but she swears I’m so lucky I couldn’t spell it out right if you had the guts to call me The ravens in the sky figured out how to fly In ways that make girls and boys want to order cameras that run on film See a kid skateboard home and it’s like it’s 2008 And my hair is blonde A lavender bush smiling for no one
Poem: Choking on grapes, continued
Cut in half an apricot Can run for miles; dimes are all I got My backpack is lilac, because I want the items I own to be beautiful To represent a part of me that feels eternal Colour schemes and fever dreams I get lost Upside down Tangled in between two separate swings Lose and find my favourite things
It must have been on purpose It was no mistake Soft cotton Precious limestone Overflowing bookcase that survives California earthquakes Girls are selling their poetry on Instagram and I’m
Still broke Choking on splinters Peeling them like grapes