West Dale Palms boulevard Clover avenue I go to the grocery store And I run right into you Ask me how things are back home Do your days ever feel terribly long I say, I have to go Think I know the place where I belong
Hollywood, Los Angeles at dusk Her perfume smelled like camellias that bloom in November They look just like roses, so naturally I’m obsessed Swing the door open to a settled fire, Capture in my hands: tiny, soft embers Collapsing into moonlight, but Cradled like dust I’ll be strong for both of us If I must
Love poem: Grocery store [continued]
You have to feed your nostalgia sometimes It’s really the only way that you’ll survive It’s how you keep the dreams alive It’s the only way they’ll see you on the other side
West Dale Palms boulevard Clover avenue When I go to the grocery store I always look for you
Fresh lint from the dryer My niece is crying Because a boy pulled a baby-pink ribbon straight from her hair & I told her, don’t worry He didn’t take anything real from you The most genuine things are More intangible than they seem
So now I’m at the laundromat Watching my lavender and velvet blanket dry Something too delicate of material to end up in this white, vacant space But I have already been charged For a thousand liar’s crimes Not my own, but it’s easy to take the blame When the minds of the reckoners aren’t something you can change
Love poem: Passenger door // grocery store [continued]
I used to dream about being held By someone so powerful That they could both start and end bar fights for me Think I was in my early twenties So my wildest visions Would make little sense to someone truly thinking of settling down You have to act your age In this kind of upscale town
Then you handed me a receipt Me, counting your naturally full lashes How strong they must be and if only Mine were too To resist my pulling them out When I both do and don’t have free time Which my mother would say is a crime But laugh with me thereafter Because true love doesn’t see you in black or in white Genuine love both does and does not fight
Love poem: Passenger door // grocery store [continued]
Your voice was alarming Because it began softening Every tense fibre locked and chained to itself within my body I warm my shivering shoulders with how hotly My breath is on evenings Like this one, in which I could not care less about who or what surrounds you and me They are just bodies And you are warm nectar That only the most tender of creatures know how to find
I showed up on time Your shift is almost over But I am too shy So, I take my bags Spill a few things, say it’s alright “You don’t have to help me” (Oh man, but I want you to) Pretend I have plans when you ask what I’m doing (I am such a poor liar, the truth practically stained on my teeth)
I want you to go sit in the driver’s seat Open the passenger door for me
I don’t want nothin’ The taste in my mouth To want is to crave is to isolate Like you’re sick
I may care to admit that it was my fault My not bothering to understand you, ask the things that really mattered What is it that you do to relax after a stressful day? Tell me about the things that frighten you Make sure for our sake that I’m not one of those things
Love poem: Polished shoes & Burberry perfume (continued)
I’m a dandelion In your crystal abyss of a forlorn cave, I don’t cry very often I want you to hold me throughout the day Feel close to me I’m free-flowing like a loose feather A father that doesn’t scold his kid A mother who holds you right back
Love poem: Polished shoes & Burberry perfume (continued)
I’m driving, just like everybody. Driving you crazy, but I think you like it I’m obsessed with roses and peonies and you’re obsessed with my Burberry perfume We make a good pair and I like the way I look in the windowpane glare Cos I’m happy for some reason, for some reason, Can you tell; can you tell?
You drive a jaguar, no, I’m just kidding It’s a Subaru Do you have any reason to believe that I don’t think you’re super cute You drink your key lime and strawberry And you like my Burberry Perfume the way it Sneaks up on ya Don’t ya wanna Hold me forever for the rest of the night
Love poem: Polished shoes & Burberry perfume (continued)
An auteur to be reckoned with, to be recognized I saw the way you polish your shoes Like you want to fade into the background I’ll grab you right back I’m hospitable like that Sit next to you on a garden swing
Love poem: Polished shoes & Burberry perfume (continued)
Don’t ya wanna Hold me forever for the rest of the day Don’t you want to Tell me you’re going to stay
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
