by Jordan Green

Struggling beneath these ropes of twine
and breathing into cracking hands,
entangled in my ever-present hair,
I think about sunsets and willow trees
and fall down on my bloodied knees.
Will you never break your sinking stare?
I try to halt the sifting sands
inside this glass prison of mine.

I used to dream of a starry knight
until my nightmare was found in you.
Grasping, groping for some solace
in my blanketed grove of sleep.
Won’t you give me something I can keep?
Look at your purple princess
whose beauty truly isn’t true.
Goodbye at the stroke of midnight.

I stop. I starve. I streak my lips
across the paned trap in my mind.
My arms cross my chest and pull
at my painted body’s screen
until my thoughts are made clean.
I’ll choke on words, a whole mouthful
until my arms my heart entwine,
my eyes become a red eclipse.

Mein Schatz, will you ever see
the salty trails scratched in my face?
Do you imagine my fingers in the dark?
Have you felt such warmth in my absence?
I don’t need your pity or pretense,
to see your eyes in sly remark.
I just need to be held in saving embrace,
and know that you will set me free.