let’s face it: I’m scared. my beautiful
young body turns into a haunted

house. I write sweet letters and light
them on fire. I am nothing but animal.

a one-eyed owl. I wish I had hated you,
but the truth is that you were a road

I knew well. driven with my eyes shut.
you took my hand and led me to the edge

of a cliff. nmy throat dry and thirsting.
the wind whipped through me like

a wild storm. I stared from the precipice
and into the dark. I was once the girl

I dreamt of: all that verve bundled
in my blood and skin. now I know

how it feels. to keep running until I die.

until we separate and get further apart.

can you understand me? even a little?
it feels like I am in an endless echo.

talking to the maps and the men inside
them on all that land. in all those canyons

and rivers and cities, tall and lit up.
anyway, the dawn comes and everything

is grey. everything is a reservoir.
I crawl out of the deep, a faceless girl.