Coward

It will take more than 
Saline tears flowing, 
Bleeding veins red and angry, 
Apologies without regret, 
To save you here. 

Because what laid in your shadows 
Was simple pretense, masked, 
And easy to ignore, 
What was once faceless, and nameless. 

Here it lays now bare and open, 
With luminescent eyes bright in the light 
Staring back at you, 
Blindfolds gone. 

Speared & wounded, 
It's now claimed you 
When you realize it never feared you; 
But it was you, you, 
Afraid, all knowing, that the sword 
Was never in your hands. 

There is no better punishment, 
Nothing more suitable now, 
Than to be it's slave, it's captive, 
To be shackled standing, 
As it stares you down, deep, 
And you can't, can't, 
Look back. 

-Noemi E. Garcia Rigsby 

Host

If I could only make your countenance my home.
Where I found the chambers empty.
Eyes marking a vacancy.

I want to graze where your scent
Blooms and lingers.
Jasmine and sandalwood,
Between the soft & heavy.
Between small sips and plenty.

I want to sleep in the cave
Where your collar never meets.
Where your chin sometimes rests,
When you bow your head.
Where your apple lays it's head.

I want to live inside your pulse
So that with each beat,
I'm spread over you all at once.
Reaching the tips of your fingers
Over and over.
And over.
And over.
In it's steady melodic rhythm.

Invade you completely without escape,
And have you slowly from the inside,
Building a fortress where my restless soul
Can finally repose.

-Noemi Garcia Rigsby