a cup of bitter black coffee
that you had made for me
when I was at my lowest
when I needed to stay awake
and push through everything
I drank a cup of bitter black coffee
in my mind I had an image of your face
the eyes that don't match mine
the song that they had sung
how they lit up when you won
like gemstones on a sunny day
there's not much sun in this city
and you are my shield from the rain
maybe it was precisely when
you weaved orange petals in my hair
that I got addicted to your taste
like you were the drug that I mixed
in my cup of bitter black coffee
I drank it as you shuffled the deck
the world was blurry - and then all black
we can't change how the cards are dealt
only the way we play the hand
the odds are stacked against us
there are no aces up our sleeves
you know I'm fucked up
but you still made the cup
of bitter black coffee
can we do this?
can we fight?
our crimes are a work of art
but love requires weakness
why do you want my bitter black side?
can we do this?
can we fight?
you are sick and so am I
a slight touch is too much
but our words are not enough
always deemed evil outcasts
no one else can handle us
if they can't stand us they better kneel down
we'll never stop
we won't give up
that I was sure of when I tasted
the bitter black coffee that you made
when the surge came to drown me
and you didn't walk away
for how long have we felt like this?
dumb teenage boys with crushes
we've grown into something stronger
a bond that nothing can break
I drink my bitter black coffee
as you play your six of spades
YOU ARE READING
The Jackdaw and Other Poems
Poetryas one grows up one tends to forget how one felt a couple years ago I am the same amount of a novelist as I am a poet between my lines I captured my emotional growth and the battle cry that I am back from the dead
