I keep falling for people who are wound

so tightly they are a marionette

to their own repressed emotion, and

if I spend long enough uncoiling

their laugh lines they come completely  

undone, shoulders slumped forward, eyes

bright with tears they didn’t think were

left.

 

some people just don’t

talk about things

but I am a sparkler broken
in half and lit
from both ends,
coming apart but still
glowing. I am open flame I

will burn that paper mache smile

right off your face my honesty

is catching

don’t come to me with

stone facade.  this spark will never

be contained I

will be ember heat you from

the inside spread like an answer glow

like a beacon like a hearthfire

whenever you need

a place to call

home.