Parallel lines and parallel lives
\nWe kept our hands to ourselves,
\nour arms straighten to our sides
\nstraighter than a straightjacket<\/p>\n
It was like I was the flame
\nand you were the fuel,
\nand if our eyes met the wrong way
\nyou would provoke me
\nand I would devour you
\nHow fucking cliche.<\/p>\n
I should have asked when I had the chance
\nabout the parallel lines you wanted etched into your skin.
\nHow long, how far would they descend?
\nI ask because maybe the length of your tattoo
\nwill tell me how long I need to wait,
\nhold my fire,
\nbite my tongue,
\nhold my arms to my sides.<\/p>\n
How long do I wait before I forgive?
\nNotice I said how long,
\nnot if,
\nbecause truth is,
\nI want you to come back along
\nbut I am scared that somehow
\nforgiving you
\nis giving you
\npermission
\nto do it all over again.<\/p>\n
And so the question arises,
\nAnd I ask myself every time\u2014
\nWhat exactly did you do
\nto me?
\nI bite my tongue
\nbut it\u2019s like an old bruise,
\nskin darkened and green
\nforgotten and unseen
\nuntil you cross my path
\nor I hear your name
\nand it\u2019s a fist pressing down
\nand I remember the pain.<\/p>\n
I write this poem and I\u2019ve stopped writing on the lines,
\nthe parallel lines
\nI am spiraling
\nand none of my questions have answers.<\/p>\n
I bought you a ring.
\nNow I know that parallel lines
\ndon’t happen by accident.<\/p>\n
The ring broke.
\nThe parallel lines broke.<\/p>\n
Is this a sign?
\nOr do I wait for the lines
\nin your skin to lose its youth
\nfall apart
\nlines break.<\/p>\n
How long will it take
\nfor your skin to give
\nthe tattoo to fall
\nfor my sign to forgive?<\/p>\n
Will it take
\nSaturn\u2019s ring to break
\nbefore I trust you
\nand me?<\/p>\n
I used to worry
\nthat you wouldn\u2019t have someone to call
\nto come flying to your side
\nwhen you felt weak.
\nAnd I felt selfish.<\/p>\n
I bought you a ring.
\nAnd it\u2019s broken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parallel lines and parallel lives We kept our hands to ourselves, our arms straighten to our sides straighter than a straightjacket It was like I was the flame and you were the fuel, and if our eyes met the wrong way you would provoke me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32988"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34472,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32988\/revisions\/34472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}