Skeleton

I remember once

I was obsessed with painting trees

but only in the winter

When they were bare and naked

stripped of all their leaves 

Only their skeletons remained

Nothing to hide

Light from the sky shining through

I would almost drive off the road

Looking for them

Looking for the special ones

that spoke to me

I would make myself dizzy

and you would offer to drive

Suggesting that maybe I should not look 

unless I was a passenger

Later as our time was coming to an end

you would often ask me

why I couldn’t see the beauty of nature

As you marveled at falling golden leaves

and frozen waterfalls

and rolling hills of green

that we would drive through 

We blinked at each other

from our prospective seats

Silent and dumbfounded 

by the windshields of misunderstanding 

that were pressed against our foreheads

I wear my heart on my sleeve

You said

Why can’t you give me all of yours

I sighed as I wrapped my arms 

around your shoulders

Feeling your hair against my cheek

I looked out the window 

at the leaves falling off the trees 

and you leaned against my skeleton 

.

.

.

.

.

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Key 

I remember when I gave you my key

Mi casa su casa, I said

Every night 

I would come home

walk past the bedroom door 

and pause

Turn my head 

catch my heart

and soldier on

one combat boot

in front of the other 

And then, one day

you gave me back my key

It landed in my hand

right next to my heart

From then on

I was the only one responsible for it

No one could come in

to my house 

unless I opened the door

Fate became a decision 

in an instant

It probably always was

I have not made a decision 

without keyhole precision 

ever since