stop telling me it’s easy--
running in circles, white
chalk lines, controlled burns
singeing controlled growth

earth had roots once, imposters
of a foreign world, kisses on my
forehead, bruises
on my fingertips

you left your lipstick outline
in a bird chest, a deeper crevice,
burrowing between
two oak trees like an
owl with no call,
you left me with no answer.

I wrote on blue lines
with pink margins
for years, separating
emotion by pen color

I lost the blue pen cap
in the sand, replaced it
with the cap to the red
the red ink long gone,
given to someone
not myself, someone
much like you; confused

The clouds swallowed planes
when I was younger, a lot
like how the briars kept
me from blackberries,
the mark of the beast written
in purple across my lips

yes, you
you were a chain link fence
with no gate, far too easy
to climb