I leave the heat of my mother’s lap

And the tears that paint her blouse

I glide through air that’s heavy like sap

Surveying the stagnant house

My room is a brand new museum

With sap giving way to amber

Artifacts ascending from my own mayhem

And the late homework I forgot to answer

I can’t bear to face my sister

So I sneak around her room

Entering the front door I barely miss her

But am caught in her perfume

I move through my old neighborhood, 

avoiding the cracks as I go

Confined by superstition for good

It’s better sometimes not to know

Even now, as I pass my school

I still feel my muscles tense

The smell the blood washed out by paint

A fresh coat over their picket fence

I slowly drift like the cities river 

With secrets below the surface

My wet hair reflects crescent moon slivers

As my pain is eased by currents

My bones all shatter at once, I break down and out, endlessly diffusing

Refusing to drown their shouts with solutions, I’d already gathered my courage for months

I feel my body rise like hot air, and my hair whipping my face

In reverse, it looks like I’m reaching for the heavens, like I found a way to change my mind

But toxic confidence is an immovable rock, wedged between two hard places

So I’ll find a higher latter and give into the steeper climb

I see the river rushing below 

and the rocky gravel sprawl

The colors of autumn are optimistic, 

But horizon makes me feel small

I look farther than I’ve seen in years

Over my town and over my story

My ears notice the softest sound

Before I’m captured by the sun’s glory

I stand in its rays and stare at the glow

Diminished to a silhouette 

My problems melt with the fresh fallen snow

As the sun begins to set

This isn’t my story, it’s my explanation

As I find beauty in the stolen things

But my old friend is your daughter or patient

Your failing student wearing waxy wings

So hold her a touch tighter for me

So she’ll remember that you still care

Or her room will become a museum

Of the pieces she’ll never share