The earth doesn’t turn as slowly as you think,
Suddenly it’s April and your shoes are wet all the time;
You use the word bones far too often in your writing,
But all the men you’ve known have turned
Into skeletons (whether they’re above ground
Or not).
So this is all you’ve got.

There’s something about the smell of rain on grass
That will catch you off guard; and it will ease
The hornet’s nest in your ribcage.
Did anyone ever tell you that heartbreak
Weighs as much as 206 bricks,
Or that you’ll jump when someone knocks on your door;
Or that you’ll look for missing people
In all the faces you see daily?

No one speaks about the way people will touch you
With oil on their hands; and the way you can
Live in your shower but never wash them away.
There’s always leftover make up on your eyes,
And there’s always unspoken words in your mouth—
You’re still learning how to grow up enough
To stop staining your face & start speaking louder.

But the bags of bones that dance in your dreams
Don’t scare you so much anymore;
You threw out that notebook filled with poetry
About a wolf who tore you open nightly,
While you chanted “I love you” from your bloody mouth.
But there’s a boy who looks at your
Like the whole fucking universe
Is spinning under your freckled skin.

I hope you know that it doesn’t matter
How quickly the earth spins under your muddy feet;
And that one day you’ll stop looking for missing people.
One day, there won’t be anything missing.
I hope one day you finally understand,
That there are ten thousand ways to say “I love you”
And most of them don’t involve your mouth.