The symptoms are kicking in this evening.
My throat is burning, yet you call my pain mild.
It’s been a minute since I’ve been with a sinner,
It’s been a while since I’ve felt like a child.
The devil left you on my doorstep like a gift,
But now I wonder if it was just a warning.
The sheets wrap around me like tentacles,
And you suffocate me by calling me “darling”.
-Jackie
Do you think the final punishment will match the crime?
I light up maroon matches and I melt your bloody dimes.
Those who branded me vengeful should cover their ears.
The head only respects what the beating heart fears.
-Jackie
I chose to believe that you adored me,
Now we’re both caught in the bitter middle.
The temperatures are nearing double zeroes,
And your fiery tongue plays me like a fiddle.
I chose to believe just one single truth,
Now the lies are threatening an avalanche.
Would you give up the cold if I begged?
Would you waste your warmth on a pretty chance?
-Jackie
The hot summer rain rolls up its bloody sleeves
As masks fall off your face like autumn leaves.
The layers you keep building from stained glass
Form an emerald church for the midnight mass.
-Jackie
The song plays on a loop in my new apartment,
And the sound surrounds me like a circle of hell.
Those missiles I aimed at your cast iron skin,
They must have convinced you to kiss and tell.
Intentions are dull like the weapons you used.
Now I justify my love to the worried masses.
What if giving up is our safest option?
What if the goodbyes broke our finest glasses?
-Jackie
The tree branches scratch my roof at midnight,
Waiting for blue flames consume the leaves.
I beg the stars to grant me three wishes,
But they are not givers,
They are colorless thieves.
-Jackie
I remember the scolding looks they gave away freely back when I built this dim lair,
Back when I used to think that I should just tolerate whatever love someone could spare.
Those days are now gone, and many moons have passed since I last fought fair,
And perhaps I would consider stopping this madness if they took the crown out of my hair.
-Jackie
The voices at the back of my mind hum familiar phrases.
They tell me secrets, they sing quiet curses and praises.
I wish no one notices the holes in my most hidden mazes,
And I wonder if I can disappear without leaving a trace.
-Jackie
I like you better when I watch you grow smaller in the rearview mirror.
I love you right when I see you running after a cab that I never took.
The things I enjoy in a moment tend to turn into scary enemy figures.
These memories I carry with me tend to turn into worst-selling books.
-Jackie
I feel trapped under every word these selfish lips mutter,
And I know that one rainy day they will choke me out.
Paragraphs build on my chest until breath doesn’t even matter.
I wish I could lose this murmuring brain in a roaring crowd.
-Jackie
The Daily Writing of Jackie Wright 