(BRENDAN)

All Vanessa Said

when I came clean was

“I see,” and I wanted

to beg her for more words

but I was scared they’d hurt.

She drove me home

without saying anything else.

“See you tomorrow?” She nodded.

But that could mean anything.

And just the thought

of tomorrow, another day

of this so-called life,

exhausts me.

I go to bed tired of confusion

tired of being so alone.

No Vanessa, no Angel, no Andy.

Now I’m really alone

and I’ll be this way for

the rest of my life.

No one will ever want to be

with the person who lives

in this body …