TIEING UP HER SHOES

thumps down
her packsack on
the pink phone
in a hurry
leaving home
I did everything
tried to love
but the fires
were larger
the ash consumed
destruction violence
her playground then

a wave and gone
not even a look

Love is a pain
a slap
the rains
that fall cold and
steady
seeping
like the cold
that will blow
stabbing
the beauty haunted
foreboding
exhalted

nothing will break
this hold
this spell
I carry it
like a broken
treasure
the last of
any known
pleasure

...