Sometimes I just want to wrap myself in poetry.

Curl into a ball so small you hardly notice as you pass by.

Curl up inside the stanzas

Cozily cocooned in imagery

Allow myself to be swallowed by it

The peace of letting go

Of releasing the tangle of words and thoughts in my head.

Knowing that I am safe

Wrap me in poems about heartbreak

Surprisingly warm and familiar

The taste of blood reminding me of my own wounds.

And let me lie there

Let me lay in the collection of words unspoken.

And let me be lost in it

And when time moves on you will forget I once spoke

Of the things we often whisper in the dark

Or the secrets we dare not admit even to ourselves.

Forget that I lived on this world

That my feet touched the earth

That my hands shivered alone

That my bones rattled like marimbas

And let me play my melancholy music

The stone slab of my memory

Laid with flowers of my own forgetfulness

Do not let me be silent

But allow me to sleep

Allow me to rest in the crest of a fallen tree

Let me name the tree gratitude

And let it grow

Each rigid fold of the bark

Every leaf left standing

Full of the ingredients for life

And a poem so unlike my own.

Let me sleep in it

Breathing in the poetry of the forest

The words of a world older than us

But do not be afraid to hold me

Do not be afraid to wrap your arms around my torso

Or my chest

Or my waist.

Pull me close in this matrix of memories

Placid poetry pouring over us both

Kiss my lips

Hold my hand

Feel the strength in my arms

The power pumping in my veins

And the fire burning on the tip of my tongue

Teeth sore from biting down on themselves.

Holding back all the words I wish to say to you, but…

Do not be afraid to tell me you love me…

Unless you know it isn’t true.