Poems
[ Linda M. Crate ]

broke open your coffin of lust 
i found myself
growing 
away from my love
for you

when i was able to think
of your name,
and it didn't hurt me

any longer;

when i could sit in a sigh
of nature and take in all the
beautiful sights and feel
at peace when i danced in the
creek with my crow friends
dancing above me—

i found myself and my magic
when i was able to let go of you,

and i feel silly now for pining
over you and so damn hard; 
but when i love i always love with
my whole heart and all you had
to offer me was a dark chest of lust—

i broke open what was meant 
as a coffin, and grew toward the
light and one day i woke up the sunshine
didn't hurt me any longer.

when i left you behind
i found growth
when i left
you behind,

every circular conversation
and every dead flower in
our garden no longer gnawed on
my heart;

was able to breathe for the first time—

it's a little funny to me,
but it's actually quite sad;
that the only time you fought for
our friendship was when it 
was long dead and gone—

can't you see there are no flowers
in the garden?

that it's overrun with weeds and snakes?

can't you see that i am happy?
because
no longer can your negativity
drag me down into oceans i was never
meant to swim;

i didn't mind carrying you sometimes
but expecting me to always be able to 
was something else entirely—

i am giver and you're a taker,
and you took until i could give no more.

more dead than alive 
i would love
to see some 
growth and depth
in our relationship,

but i was told you
can only meet people
as deeply as they're
willing to meet
themselves;

and apparently you're still
clinging to the 
shallows—

i am a mermaid
so i want to venture off to some
adventures in the deep 
end,

want to know more than 
everything i have always known;

yet i try not to swim too far 
away from you because i don't want
to leave you too far behind—

yet there's a voice in me saying 
that it's time to go,
you seem to plant more and more
distance between us;
and i try to be patient but i must admit
our friendship sometimes feels 
more dead than alive.