something breaks in the frozen night
tearing / you sit up and i stay
right here in these warm sheets
you say i am pretty only because the word beautiful
is too strong for someone like me. the word lovely too bland,
the word cute too childish. pretty is enough and pretty is anyone.
i reach for your hand and i want to
have your fingers between mine but
you pull away / like the sting of a bee / like something foul
a bird screeches somewhere in the dark, cuts itself off abruptly
you stand up and open the window, moonlight casts on your clean freckled skin
i am brown against these white sheets, against you
you are strong where i am broken & mama says someone like you is someone i need
there are things we can love enough
with time / and i am not one of them
the crackling stars, gossiping moon
abandoned bicycle on the empty road,
wheel spinning, still.
i feel naked in this cold light
ashamed i study my fingers, count
each one like a confession
& again wind rushes through the open breeze, i want to call out
come back to bed
but the words flicker and die in my mouth, my jaw sets like the pretty girl i am
please / please tell me again
tell me, again, how pretty i am