Mmm, you are a distracted assent, you coat like cold sweat,

glisten

like contented sleep.

And then you are songless– muh like mundane, buzzing of the lampshade fibers,

quivering

from the lamplight flicker.

PART I: AI is created

I think God made you and me out of binary code You call me an enigma,

But I do not speak your language. You would be the 1’s.

Standing tall

Always at the top

Perfect Aryan halo on your head I would be the 0’s.

A STORY IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE LOVE INTEREST

the director says ​start​, and you come to life like an automaton. a blink, and

she could’ve found

anyone, I know, the boys

who promised her better in the

beginning would be

baffled if they

knew because she

didn’t choose

anyone (she chose me)

Too long we have forgotten

The story of breath in our lungs

Depending on who you ask

We started from clay, dust,

Half of a ribcage, the salt of the

Earth, the water of the sea;

The old gods.

You ask me If I know the way back home from here. I sing the words, “yes, dear” back to you like I’m someone else. You say “alright” because you’ve got nothing else to say right now; I respect that. I keep my eyes on the road. I’m not quite sure where you’re looking at this point

I wake before you and in the darkness,

I don’t recognize you right away.

Your lashes bring their own light,

full like fields of crows,

a murder of crows. The birds nested

on the hill I’m sure I’ve told you about

This is the pretend-dream,

where I am teaching you to swim,

and your body and my body

remember their names in the water.

There’s a question in her blue, misty eyes.

His don’t answer.

All I’ve ever wanted is independence from everyone and to live my own life. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve never had that before living with a large family and controlling parents but it’s something I always long for.

Though you’d never admit me to be justified

in saying “no,”

I think you know why I’m doing this.

Too often

I catch you staring at me, wanting me,

but never know how to say

what I have to say.

I wish that I could speak my mind more easily.

I wish I didn’t fall in love so easily

and that it weren’t so obvious.

Your hopeless little tragedies

Spill so hopelessly on the floor.

The ones that take over all the attention,

The ones so goddamn impossible to ignore.

The not so gentle news

Is burning away, all this trust once built

Different: not the same as another.

My “friends” and I, we’re different from each other.

They are cool; I am not.

I am lame; they are hot.

Even when they’re wrong, people think they’re right.

They like the day; I like the night.

Alone,

I wait for

you.

I sit quietly

and picture

you,

wondering if

you will still

come.

Was’ up with you and me

can you tell me that

I think the way you have been treating me

is flat out whack

I’ve been putting myself out there

as the months have gone by

But no matter how far we get

you continue to pull back

Every time that you

promise It puts me in this

constant positive mood then

you let me down

why don’t you just stop it?

Speak in your whispers, yet love me the same,

Wrap me in wings of comfort that tears can't absolve,

See through the struggles were new paths evolve,

your silence lies down beside me with only repetitive breath,

Rain danced gleefully across the tombstones as if mocking the dead. The now wet moss on older parts of the graveyard made the ground slick. It grew where other forms of life refused for reasons of their own, yet sparingly did the moss do so as if even it respected burial grounds.

What is the point of pep rallies? Is anyone actually, genuinely enthusiastic? I find it much easier to believe that, seeing as we’re teenagers, we’re all just faking it, in an ironic sort of way.

***

Walking down

The hall of my high school,

The stares,

Judging,

The whispers,

Telling lies of the truth,

Tears cause by,

Always and forever,

Gone,

Hurt by you,

Love turning to hate,

It’s not about what you told me,

but what I chose to believe.

Nothing feels worse than living

an imaginary dream.

And they occur so often and freely

whenever Satan creeps in.

By the time I breathe, and count to ten

I always feel like I’m doing my best

but being put to the test.

People come and go;

No one ever seems to know.

They come in and

Leave so fast,

There’s so many

I can’t remember who was last.

i, the definitive

the only you in the world

i am and you are individual

we are separate

we are absolute masters

of our individual perceived universes.