I’ve been thinking a lot about how many of my plays have poems in them. A lot of those plays haven’t been produced so I want to slowly start to pull them out of the plays and share them a different way. Both of these are in a play of mine called Baby, Bye.
Us, Then
I like to imagine us
outside
in the pouring rain
shivering while we try to explain to each other
why this was doomed from the first day
from the moment I saw you flash across my screen
held my breath
and tried not to make it obvious
you had me then
in a split second
and I hated myself for it
because the last time I gave myself away so suddenly…
You know how it went
we watch history repeat itself
My bad habits rewinding the clock
reminding myself of what always happens
when I let my dreams run the infrastructure
I’m pretending not to see
the explosions I can’t quite end
Times like these make me think of how often I almost said
–Should I have said it—
That maybe you and I could…
Irrelevant.
No point in letting my brain wander of course.
At this point, it’s clear I cannot say goodbye
But I can shut the system down
Flip the switch
Cut the cord
Whatever cliché works best
As I let my imagination go dark
(No, not yet)
Until then
We’re watching bad movies on some couch that belongs to neither of us
before the impending wave of destruction drowns us in it
Thinking of You
When I think of you, I think of breathing
I think of inhaling in some sort of elixir
I can’t quite name
a healing seduction
I feel throughout me
touching my bones as you slip in and out of my pores
I breathe you in and find peace in between
the pieces
of what they’ve shattered
When I think of you, I think of dancing
of the music vibrating against my skin, daring me to move
the sway of my hips giving away what my face
can’t
my heart
trying to beat to your cadence
your melody repeating in my head regardless of the song
as I try to two-step away from the collateral expectation of falling again so fast
When I think of you, I think of speeding
foot on the pedal, barely exhaling, waiting, dreaming,
eyes closed going backwards on PCH and flying
And crashing.