SELF PORTRAIT IN THE CLOUD
(dimensions unknown)

  • Niagara Falls, New York, United States

I keep asking:

what part of me

must die

so I can feel 

alive in his gaze?


And the truth is—

it’s always the same part.

The part that knows how to leave.

The part that can bear being alone.

The part that would rather ache in solitude

Than be adored in pieces.



But I quiet her.

I dress her in perfume.

I lay her down beside him.


And in the morning,

I call it love.

Even as I gather

what’s left 

of me.