tales of the careworn heart

1. you flick your cigarette
like your practicing
for a puddle of gasoline
(so haute
your eyes shine
behind your bang bang bangs)

I want to be the editor
of the sad parts of your autobiography
insert silver linings like fish hooks
into the corners of your lips
and pull them up
into a sharp smile

2.(black bra straps
beneath a white wifebeater
angled off the shoulderblades
cuts deep the want)

we're all missing children
posters
but we never look
each other in the eye
and I
get lost in your story
I search for you
out on the fringe
of soft lace

I would strip off
all my armor
if I could be
yours

3. "you have such a pretty gun"
-starts the new american love story
we bleed honey
the hive echoes
with alibis and "god save the queen"

(and as you ascend the throne
I send this valentine
"honey you have such a pretty
everything")