I like how the wind rests
on the locks on your shoulders
before it slips
and floats away— % &I like how this tiny
distance between our fingers
fruits into a newborn,
so fragile and quiet
in a dreamless sleep
that you keep staring at
until it smiles— % &I like how you eyes
almost disappear
when you guard your smile
with the back of your hand— % &I like watching you
as if I'm a traveller
looking out the window
watching the sun bounce off
trees and brick houses
and white feathers
fluttering in the sky.— % &You are the sun
to all the shadows
I'm leaving behind.— % &

-

It's colder than most days
We're speaking in damp tongues
and clattering teeth,
Smiling and sighing into thin air,
above our rat eyes is a still sky
holding our banter
soaking into cups of coffee
filling itself with stories
we're yet to share.
I'm a jade sweater
with empty pockets
but the night is full in my eyes.
I close the lid
and slide it on the topmost
shelf of my mind.— % &

-

Home — % &

-

Some days I can't remember how old I am
the whole world stills
and then it comes to me
sharp as a paper cut
an age that I'm foreign to
I try to put it on my tongue,
this new number
so naked and barren
but it clumps like dried glue
and I peel it off
some days I can't tell
If I'm old in years or in ears
I've heard them tell me
congratulations, you're not a teen anymore
My age is passed around in a room
from mouth to ear to eyes to throat
till my senses tug at me to run
Some days I run so fast
that time slows down
and I can be any age I have been before
or one that I'm yet to live
Some days I forget
the time in me
needs an address number.
I'm both a wooden school desk
and a child that counts days in it
like a prison cell.

-

I have news for you!
//Caption

-

I stumbled upon your playlist
and found a song I had saved in mine
the rest of the night was a cheeky grin
as we swayed and swirled
my hands gripping your shoulders
your feet skipping beats
laughing till our heads tipped
your breath a steady reminder
that winter was near
and you were warm as a memory.
I remember your fingertips
sliding behind my ears
I remember my hair
scattered all over you
If you weren't
one blink away from disappearing
I'd have saved you
in our own little song.

-

My table
stands on itself
folds in itself
on four iron legs
I'm watching it collapse
and sit upright again
and I'm wondering
if I could fit inside
this metal cocoon
inside the cracks
of the wooden top
inside anything
that will stand for itself
and lift me too.

-

Let's move.
Move across the hill
across the river
past the trees
and the desert
Let's move to a different time zone
to a different city
a different park
a different bus stand
a new museum
a place where they sell stamps
Let's move across the hall
past this room
past this little line
we've drawn in front of our toes.
Let's take a step.
Let's take that step.

-

I'm a shoulder
you, a bag.
Together we're a journey.

-

trees outside windows
hide behind curtains
and sneak inside homes.

-