Lulu_D

I always admired

your blueish-red skin

which complemented your fire-green eyes.

The snake-like hues

in your eyes,

which I had once found beautiful,

now angled themselves toward your demise,

Down the Interstate, 

Stuffed in an SUV, 

A perfect suburban one. 

You shake your knees. 

Mom tells you to stop shaking. 

since you’re not dead yet but you should be

swear you’ll save the world

because you’ll be the first to know and the first

to ever do anything about it.

This morning I watched 
as someone I love broke their heart. 

Over and over, 
I watched them wander through the secret streets of Paris, 
clumsily holding their heart in their hands. 

In the mirror, I see fragments 
of you staring back at me, 
but I refuse to let your shadow 
define the woman I've become. 

Your voice echoes in my mind, 
reminders of the wounds you inflicted, 

Songs 
of my father’s 
belly laughter 
flow through the eye 
of the needle 
and around the loom 
with each abdominal contraction. 

It reminds me of  
home.