Bad Boy

Bad boy drives fast

Dyes his hair

Pierces his own ear.

Bad boy's

Half moon eyes

Look into mine

I swear a vow of silence.

Bad boy feels it too.

I know that's why he asks

What I think

Stays over late

Pauses to let me

Scrutinize

Bad boy looks tough

But to me

He only smiles

He only smiles.

Bad boy sits on the stairs

Opposite me

Bad boy touches my hair

Bad boy's hand on my thigh

He gives me chocolate

In the kitchen.

Bad boy's fingers on my hips

And lips against my neck

Bad boy takes me home.

Drive around the block

Don't pause.

Flowers on the sidewalk

Headlights off.

Bad boy and I,

We have a mutual adoration.

What I wouldn't give to see myself through his eyes.

In the mornings we share

Split second glances

What are the chances

Bad boy walks past

Every time I look up?

I trust my gut feelings

They'll call it coincidence

But sensing Bad boy's presence,

My superhuman ability.

Stare down the corridor

Throat full of bile.

Turn toward the door

Say the same words at the same time.

Fluorescent hum

Masks the buzz of my agitation

Stifled mania swelling

In tidal waves of impatience

The terror and excitement

Of knowing

At this moment

Our audience is

None the wiser.

Bad boy and I,

We have a psychic connection.

And I love him with the strangest, most miserable passion.

Deluge

That night, the light on the mountains was scarlet as blood

In the backyard, behind the trampoline,

She boasted, said you told her you loved her

I didn't believe it

But set my alarm for early to ask

Before it was too late

Dreadful weather like this always reminds me of then

That May when it rained twenty-six days in a row

You dropped me off on the bridge, sped away with a screech

And silhouetted by waterlogged trees

I walked down the street alone

I should have known then that you were going to leave

If only I had been more bold

Or you had been less sad

I told myself if you bled me dry I would walk away

That I wouldn't beg at your feet like a dog

But it happened so slowly, an imperceptible trickle

One raindrop at a time on the sidewalk

Until the smattering of gray grew darker

And the sky rumbled

And I looked down and saw what you had done

And when it was over and you had drained me of my life

You looked at me with a sad smile

Told me we come from different worlds

And this can never, ever be

And I, catatonic, boarded my plane

And stared out the window into the setting sun