Branches and antlers
Stretching skyward in lewd declaration
and iambic pentameter dashed upon the walls

Tiny pale kittens look on from overstuffed ottomans
Somewhere I forgot to imagine
Their eyes wide and heavy

I shed a coat of mirrored scales
and hang my smile up for the day
The dark hollows of your eyes
Reverberate inside my ribcage
Kept artificially warm by bleached foxfur

Hope burrowed into the left innominate vein
To wait for another day
Just next to the superior vena cava
With promises of waves on a tropical beach
The sunlight on our skin

But the sun comes through tinted windows
And the waves are in fact smoke
The sea comes to welcome me home
Washing hardwood into sand

As antlers and branches look on with pointed expression
Kittens rest their sleepy heads on tiny paws
I take a swim
With eyes pressed against the deep
Thinking of the scale of constellations
Their horns thrusting fearlessly into nothingness

-Edited from my journal, Valentine’s Day 2012

Dress: Sylvie & Mado

Shoes: Thrifted

Photography: Union City Photographics

Styling: Dina Arrieta

Jewelry: Custom made in Cairo, Egypt several years back

Mood: Vamping to cover a deep existential crisis, just like everyone else