Grace (Dear and the Headlights)

Shaking my teeth loose on your table The dullest white squares I'll never be Now that you've picked each one apart you can't look at me I'll probably lose you now But at least the ones I have still sparkle Putting on your makeup everyday before he wakes up So he could stomach your face now easier than he could without Yeah this is love This is all that you could want Open equals heavier Hold your hand out palm side up Open, empty, light enough Minutes all turn to months This is one thing we have all learned Equations always make up a sum But it doesn't add up Signing up for that second semester Because you won't marry me without the degree Once I fix things up right you wont be so embarrassed of me But I'll never make it now But at least looking in the mirror wont feel like lying Posing for your still visions Acedemic postcard prisons Raise your chin, love Purged a poem I swore was finished Heaping lines half chewed unconscious Settle on a plot, chalk another loss Stage set for Breathing and choking on swallowed conversations Clutching and crawling for constant validation Still nailed in the ruins of corporate co-dependence Still stuck on the thought that you're the one exception All the while the same I'm worried that the purpose is How I look, not how I lived Let's get dolled up and play pretend Cause nothing stays honest when Every thought is cursed with intent A pulse covered in skin and words covered in lips The taste of regret as it leaves your stomach Coating your tongue with every noun Watery eyes the only thing that makes sense now Spitting your insides out Start over Start over Start over Start over Start over