it’s a coked out dance floor on a sunday night
a room filled with people that i vaguely know

a strung out warehouse on a saturday night turned sunday morning
nearly strangers dancing,
touching, laughing,
like we know each other
from real life
like on monday you’ll remember my name
and i’ll remember your face

she said “we’re at a crossroads”
but what she meant
is “we’re going separate ways”

i envy the way
the sun gets to make its way up her back
every morning
when i used to greet her
with a kiss on every letter tattoo’d on her spine

they say distance makes the heart grow fonder,
but i think nothing is more bonding
than heartbreak

sometimes i think about
what my life would have been like
if i had driven 1200 miles that night
to meet you halfway.

it probably wouldn’t have lasted long
because you believe in God
and always wanted children
but i believe i’ve been abandoned
and couldn’t pass down this burden

the thought never stays for long,
just present for a moment, then it’s gone.
like a car passing through a sleeping town
in the middle of the night
on a 1200 mile drive.

*this was supposed to be up before the new year, but i have no accountability these days. i want there to be more to this piece, but this is all i have for now.

i started the decade without a single tattoo
and i’ll end it with twenty-two.
some for friends, some for lovers,
three for family,
a highlight reel of the most important people

so when they ask “what’s the meaning behind your tattoos?”
i can tell them the story of jess, jesse, jessica, and ally
chelsea, dani, sam, aubrey, mehr, and chloe bee too,
i can even tell them about the time i survived Valley.