This Is Home

January 2016 Winner of the Goodreads Poetry Contest

We will always be here, you said.
This town and you and the rusty moon
Under the browned trees and the night sky.

The permanence, a brick house,
Built to withstand earthquakes and silent explosions.
Inside I am never the same.

It’s a smack in the face
The beauty of you on the last night
Before the world comes back to claim me.

My heart, a packed suitcase,
Exchanging blood and oxygen for the salty ocean
And the forested mountains.

Did I mistake the tenderness of your words?
With my open hand on your heart,
My head on your chest.

I said I love you,
You want me to be happy.
Zipping up the moment like a tight pair of jeans.

My friend, we are oceans divided
By the comforts of home,
And the soft curve of loneliness.

I was the one who left
Resolved you would never consider that
You are the point inside where joy begins.

We shrug it off
And pull away without exhaling
Until sleep restores the unfussed mess of us.