(1.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the woman
who never dared admit that she was lonelier
for having met me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I still think of you
when snow unbecomes itself
upon my skin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and of how right you were<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that in time
we will come to envy
everything<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for the ease with which it leaves us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the woman who fell in love
with the wrong sort of amateur magician
on the hopes he could split her in two
and content himself with only half<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(the half with the port wine stain that looked like a Jovian storm)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my tricks are merely words, love<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ornate frames that cradle
interruptions of a vacuum<\/p>\n\n\n\n
like grief
it’s all just sleight of hand
that parts
the memories
from dreams<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and I hardly ever remember tomorrow<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but take comfort in this<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do not dream of you again until death<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and even then
it’s only in shadows
dancing
in the crack of light
beneath the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(3.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to the woman
who said death was just
a more forgiving kind of loneliness<\/p>\n\n\n\n
what a lovesome cruelty
this thing we mistook for romance<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of course we are helpless to
when something calls
we’ll always stumble back to where we were loved
on unexpected terms
like drunks hurrying back
to the distant laughter of ghosts
beneath the covers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
somedays I forget why I got sober
somedays I think I never did<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but then I hear you
begging
your own body<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not to kill more of your children<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and I remember
the sheer inexperience
this world has
in loving women<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and that I am not alone in that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(4.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to the woman who chose my heart
in the same way
that a cat picks a quiet corner of the house to die in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my head still tries to leave my neck
when my body turns to meet you
in the middle of its nowhere<\/p>\n\n\n\n
somehow it knows
where you reside
better than my eyes do<\/p>\n\n\n\n
it’s a breathlessness
a toothless winter
biting at my wounds<\/p>\n\n\n\n
today it was the way the snow died
just to fit through the rotten board in the roof<\/p>\n\n\n\n
today you were the color of rust
of a body unlearning itself<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and I spent every minute of it
holding on<\/p>\n\n\n\n
like a fool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Picture: A Daughter (who forgot how to wear her wings)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[7,8,6],"class_list":["post-404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-love-poems","category-poetry","tag-benheart","tag-love","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions\/405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benheart.art\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}