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it is the vulnerability
that is scary
and i worry about how
i am not perfect looking
and think this is why
you haven't asked me
to be your one and only
and I forget reality
you have shortcomings
they mean nothing to me
every time we fall asleep
it is comfortably
i wake up thinking
i am not good enough
but every other time
i step into the world
i know there is no one
good enough for me
there is no one
to meet me at my doorstep
with the same levity
bravery and simplicity
as me, but you
romanticism destroys me
there is something about you
no one gets to see me this way
optimism is my fault
i believe the good things
are in the people i meet
i believe the things you see
are the things i saved for you
i think you are the only thing
that is 20/20

Old Flames and Inventing Fire

I just want to know

that you thought it first

It is easier to love you

if you know what love is

just tell me

In case you are forgetting

Love is every word I speak

but mostly the drunk things 

I post when I think

no one is listening 

Love is my patio

and me asking you

What else do you want to talk about

And your blue eyes do not flinch

as I say something else about me

This part is easy

Let me open up to you

From here on out

everything is easy

Welcome to loving me 

I love you too

If you're looking for the fire escape 

I will show you all of the doors 

In case of emergency

just call me, I will answer

I have been writing poetry

to pass the time

I have been waiting for you

Take your time (but hurry, please)

I don't want to wait for you, anymore 

Formerly The Diplomats

One of the first things I learned
was that I did not have permission
to pick flowers
from flower gardens
but dandelions were free game
I would sit on the patch of grass
across from the rose bushes
my mother planted
beside the mailboxes
at the apartments I grew up in
and make wishes upon wishes
on the curb of East 24th Street

The mailbox was a prayer request
I would sit and stare at
Waiting for submissions, rejections,
or any correspondence to me
I must have blown a million
little circuses of fantasies
and picked the petals of every wildflower

He loves me, he loves me not
He loves me, he loves me not

And I am forever there
On that patch of weeds
Wanting so badly to pick flowers
instead of petals
To make plans, instead of wishes
Waiting for that letter
that says,
This is exactly what we are looking for.
Submission accepted.
We will be in touch with you soon.