be with those who stay and not seek. 

those that stay do not seek. 

you seek and you need, 

like blisters and bullet holes with bandaids, they keep,

not yet yours, not yet seen,

and it’s not all yet greed, 

but we’ve got us a reason to keep. 

i love you, and my gut hurts.

a gut, that machine with no thrust. 

not a heart, that machine that’s pen and soul and brain and pain 

but not yet old, as in dust, 

like it is fear and trust. 

i don’t quite know how to contain all the blood my heart pumps, but i should devote the rest of our time to knowing it’s why we have it. 

you’re special, as you’re not alone. 

that word is one word, and one thing, not one folk. 

your body is multiple, all of the same 

as i skim down your own list of notes. 

you don’t quite know how to position all the leaves your body holds, but i hope you devote the rest of your time to knowing it’s why we have them.

i’m not stagnant with heart pen soul brain pain 

and your leaves aren’t that way.

we have that.

i want to seek you, as never to stay.  

even if i’d take that brain, 

and keep my word, and keep my face, 

and know right then to stray away. 

leave with those that aren’t seasonal. 

leave with cannons and bans and duct tape and loud hate 

that need you to exist and take space. 

you’re a battalion, a drunken limb, a pen, and a reason 

whose mind quiets when swords exist then.