My Summer Perfume

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Your hair falls in your stormy eyes when you burst out laughing.

Love, I have never navigated such deep waters without drowning.

I wear your sweet scent on me like my favorite summer perfume,

I cannot stop daydreaming, cannot smell anyone else in this room.

So, take me home like you always do, keep me stuck in the moment.

I have never felt an effervescent love without the weight of torment.

The waters always take us back to the very beginning of our love.

When I look at you, hope does not seem like another brick to throw.

I tuck your hair behind your ear as you laugh right at the blue moon.

If I only could, I would gift you all my eternities, not only this noon.

Your fresh breath on my skin feels like a splash of the coldest seawater.

But as long as you take me home once more, it is a fair barter.

-Jackie

The People

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The people I control hate me enough to clean my wounds with salt,

They love me enough to convince me it is exactly what I want.

The pain runs through my nerves like electricity through metal,

One more fiery touch and they will have to bury me in black petals.

I let them do whatever they please to fulfill their sadistic needs.

They know that I am just a vessel that bleeds whenever they bleed.

The people who control me contort me in shapes and sweet poses,

They love me enough to bury my salty ego in some scarlet roses.

-Jackie

Trust You

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I trust your hands on my neck,

Not like a noose or a threat.

I trust your face in my hair

More than I trust my despair.

So, I let you walk away again.

You’ll be back here at ten.

I let you say it’s the last time.

Oh, if only I got a dime

For every time

You choke when I call you mine.

Oh, how young love has stained us,

It has turned us faithless.

But I trust you in my chest,

Not like a heart or a test.

I trust your nose on my cheek

More than I trust myself this week.

-Jackie

Red Like A Cherry

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The rivers are carrying corpses this spring,

And nobody knows where they come from.

Every new day clips my growing wings

As my heart keeps beating like a drum.

My soul sinks with each ghost that we bury.

You can see grief in the eyes of my people.

Still, the cursed river is red like a cherry,

And its sinister waters keep getting deeper.

-Jackie

Kill My Own Heart

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Tell me, where do you find the nerve?

Tell me before my curiosity swerves.

And where do you find the arrogance?

I knew I hated you from the very first glance.

But hate is a strong word to serve,

And I prefer to give what is deserved.

Still, how do you sleep at night?

Two wrongs can never make a right.

You know you are falling from the grace,

Landing right on your wicked face.

Tell me, does it hurt to fall apart?

Tell me before I kill my own heart.

-Jackie

Into The Deep

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Please leave me in ruins as my life collapses.

Nothing around us, just the grey masses.

Don’t try to save me from their sharp tongues.

I drink their saliva to stay forever young.

The next step is simply a forgotten memory.

You can scream or you can quietly go to sleep.

If you bite my ankles and taste my seawater,

I will erase your town just like your father’s.

Please leave me shattered as I come down,

We aren’t real people, we’re just circus clowns.

Blame me for your shortcomings as you sleep.

I’ll count to ten as I’ll walk into the deep.

-Jackie

A Sinner’s Lullaby

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The second they stop singing me their fearful praises,

I drag their bodies through gravel, tie them with red laces.

They want to shun me for being brutal and physical.

All I ask for is pure adoration, is it really that miserable?

As soon as the looks on their faces gain some spite,

I drop them into the dark sea, I unleash all my might.

They want to take my castle, saying they know better.

Still, I run these roads and forests, I control the weather.

So, the moment they stop begging me for forgiveness,

I make them build their own cages until they are skinless.

They want to bury me alive, then burn my fragile bones.

All I ask for is loyalty, why do I still end up alone?

-Jackie

Under Water

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My wounds only open under water.

The sea is my god, it is my martyr.

My eyes drip tears only when I lose.

I act like fate is a goddam noose.

I know roads the others cannot find.

The maps are burned, the horses – blind.

My breath is a salty breeze on a neck,

But it turns to fire to gain respect.

My truth only shines when the sun dies.

They know I kill it to save the night.

My mouth is the seventh entry of hell,

Only the brave can drink from the well.

-Jackie

My Town

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There is a hole in the ground by the old church,

And I know they have run out of bodies to bury.

Why does this latest blessing feel like a curse?

Why do lifted spirits are so hard to carry?

The grass is slowly dying on the ancient graves

As the cemetery rots away, grey and abandoned.

I have the souls of heroes hidden in the lakes,

Now their waters have grown green and rancid.

This is just a town that is looking for answers,

And we are running on empty for decades now.

This is just my town with its necromancers,

And its infinite power to torture and drown.

-Jackie

The Wall

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Once the walls come down, we begin the race.

I am not even sure if you will recognize my face.

I swear, there is just too much to leave behind.

These city streets are haunted, and so am I.

Once the walls start cracking, the dawn will break.

Still, I do not know if this is just another fake.

I am on a ledge and below me are two choices –

A dull life in silence or one full of loud voices.

And once the walls crumble, I go for the win.

Have I told you lately how much I have sinned?

I swear that I tried to save all that is sacred,

But there is more fun in a soul that is naked.

-Jackie