// come with me, you are important //

I have seen your red rubbed eyes

through streaming silken water,

open & wincing clean

            I have seen you hock up brown globs

            of weekend spit, I’ve seen you scour

            your ciggie finger back to baby pink

            back to monday’s weather

Lying there like a sleeper, what

are you doing on the inside

of your eyelids, did you

leave yourself elsewhere?

Sometimes, our shared silence

is unnoticed, busy brains and sometimes

it is a waiting game

                        Sometimes, I think to give you vitamins

                        & ask about your nutrition

                        I have seen you black lipped

You say things I don’t quite catch, I say ‘what?’

you say ‘nothing.’ I say ‘what?’ again & you say ‘no it was nothing.’

& later you’re gone & somehow

my mind slides into place

the cogs of your sentence

            it’s like hearing a song with simple lyrics

            so simple they don’t make sense

            but later you’re in a mood, drunk

            or horny, you listen again and it’s like fuck

“you know, I’ve got mood swings that I can’t drink off”

You are my morning shower.

You are my trusty bobby pin.

            I think I might see you on trams or on a random

            suburban street. That street’s so you, I would say.

                        Sometimes, I forget about you.

                        & the part of my brain that is a Venn diagram

                        keeps you safe in one of the inner nooks

                        not the center, but close

Unhelpful thought patterns

are often derived from an underlying value

how we think the world should work

* how we think we work

            I shouldn’t waste time

            I can’t succeed

You think I should worry less.

I’m really trying.

            Sometimes, your hands light up

            two glowing saucers like an energy ad

            you feel special, and you feel fear

            that it’ll all unravel

I think I’m speaking

directly to some part of you

that has been waiting to listen

I think

I think I’ve been waiting to speak

            You have seen me choke on words and waited

            You have seen me lie

I have seen you, with complete lack of structure

bundle around the room

fretting over scarves, lost in the movement

you are a leisurely stroll

through the gardens

we’re similar, and not

                        Sometimes, you turn your light on for me and give

                        me all you’ve got, I know it’s tiring

                        and I don’t mean to be a drainer

                        Sometimes, we keep each other alive

Sometimes, we walk into uncertainty

we find beauty in the dirt, in the restaurant sign

in the interaction with the sales clerk

            we hold hands

            we are every pleasant uber ride

            we say yes.