XVI.

the warm winter night
loses my steam boat breaths while
your lost smile lingers

XV.

my only request:
"please, sleep only on the couch."
but you crawl in bed

XIV.



biting my lip as
words spill on the kitchen floor-
i live in haikus

XIII.

sturdy, unstable-
i will lay brick upon brick
close enough to hold

XII.

steady, honest breaths
as it rains in Seattle
drenched from roots to ends

XI.

fly free little bird
over the cold, choppy waves
of lake washington

X.

tomorrow i will
dress and undress my sorrows-
toss them to the sea

IX.

sink down into soil
while the helium dreams
tangle past the clouds

VIII.


let's not play pretend
like the photo says something
it is only white, empty

VII.

with silent lids we
watch too many sun sets but
never a sunset

VI.


sleepy, beneath clouds
your eyes change color: blue, grey-
i see shapes they don't

V.


to feel weightless in
the ocean of tears, always
treading and floating

IV.

it is in the sun
you kiss me and all the while
sand scratches my knees

III.


what a lovely cage!
tidy, frigid and untouched-
locked with silent keys

II.


let me carve a hole
small and unnoticeable
in your quiet hand

I.

icy waters chop
while our noses cry for help-
"we are lost at sea"