what great and terrible things
we bury
such
sadness hidden under the house
disappointment tucked beneath the bed -
rage slid behind the pearl-side of a smile

you have come undone
and your undoing is your own.
you unhinge your dark heart with messages
for all those who’ve wronged you,
missing, all the while, your own
reflection in the crimson pool.

it is much easier to be angry
than humiliated
so you throw stones into the air
and curse the sky for its cruel echo
becaus... read more

Fire burns
all but the best of us -
our titanium spirits,
our indestructible hearts.

You have gone up in flames,
burned your life down
to its beams
stripped yourself of all you knew
perhaps in the name of freedom
or perhaps it was fear...
it doesn't matter now.

What matters
is how you burn
with no facade left to feed the burning,
with no rooms to hold your stories,
no doors to keep you in.
What matters is what you do
with only the embers
those bright, breathing embers
o... read more

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he himself does not become a monster. And if you look long enough into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. -Friedrich Nietzsche

They say
that the wise are those
who can look into themselves,
find the truth of themselves.
They say that it is only in darkness
that we truly begin to see.
And yet, I wonder: what happens when we are given light?
Is that, then, when we are most blind?

You see yourself, my love,
yo... read more

Layers of truth envelop a quiet center,
deep and hushed like snow.
Light, yes.
Gentle, no.
Hard fought joy
persistent, rapturous –
a swan dive in saturation.
No one’s pale, sugary moon.
No one’s angel, no.
From the stem to the center she is her own.
Even,
even the tips stay true.

J. Gebbie

Observance

I threaded your words
as the birds do in springtime
and made a space for you.
And when the rains came
I waited for you to return
to that place.
I waited.

I clutch them again, your words.
Tightly bound, even still they
stretch out toward me
call me by all my pretty names
tether my heart with longing
and I wish
you’d had the courage
to set them free
to turn them into the sky
to live them
to spare me them.

I watch the flames engulf
the black swirls
of what... read more