by design.

they may have 

passed in the night

dreams, or nightmares

juxtaposed, oxygen

and carbon dioxide

swirling around their parted lips

he prefers to fly

under the radar

failing to understand that she

can see his beacon, and

feelings are loudest

spoken across space and time

they could create talismans

living poetry, growing out of

the summer sidewalk

she breathes into living things

his shadow is chasing, hungry fear

but she is starving

© 7.27.2016 heather brager

afternoon.

why should I even explain

how light crept

effortlessly through the

curtains, your unsettled breath

and sleeping limbs

hiding in plain sight

a beautiful and

unsolved enigma

held hostage in a vacuum

© 7.19.2016 heather brager

a truth, in poem format.

finger the distorted balance of
carefully breathing the same air
afraid to open the door, but
sitting close, with scars left
on your hearts and your arms by
years of unraveling, the pain of
re-stitching love back together

the night fire was drawn out of you
in thunderous blindness, a fierce dragon
with a propensity for resistance
when glass shattered, and once safe rooms
ignited with the blaze, in a
chapter that she has already read

she already knows where you have been
why you fuck in a hurry
and wait for a rabid breaking point,
but each justifiable choice
is a delicate line of poetry
a lyric that replays in your head
each compulsive mistake, the beautiful poison
that you both drank,
and lived to accept

© 7.13.2016 heather brager

shrive.

ask again what you were thinking 

the answers lie just beneath the skin,

waiting for permission

pause to consider the breeze 

beyond the windows,

twilight stretching and lying down 

across the living room rug 

as a witness to simplicity

leave your weapons outside the door

place your hands softly 

beneath the surface, before dawn 

beckon everything that was 

ever taken from you 

until the walls ache toward the sun

© 7.8.2016 heather brager