Solace

Solace

i placed stems in a cup filled with water,

set it underneath the moon, and hoped

for a leaf to grow. they have never needed

love more than a heart living on grease and

morphine before, but they are lost. they

have lost their roots from the earth and their

bones have become brittle from the fall.

the stars are flashlights for the lost spirits of the

sky.  lives only wanting to return back to

the solace but are afraid of what is there to welcome

them; and though my stems are lost they have

already jumped into the caverns of that scarred stone.

i tried to drown myself once. the water caressed my heart

as i stopped breathing, but i could still hear the waves

rowing against the tabs of my spine until sand clotted

against my skin—love was etched along my body when i awoke.

the stems, the spirits, all wrote love on their bellies,

followed the stars like i followed the waves.

aimlessly. we had all heard the same thing that took

us too far. the same words that turned our bones

to ash—sometimes love is the one who’s wrong.

my bones, my roots in this earth, they tell me otherwise!