in broad dayliGht black lovers look guest

I think love is a hotel room

everything used

but new

I arrive with arms full of gifts

The most precious wrapped

inside of my chest

the lampshades bow and the tv won’t even look at me

I am never more useless

than in the arms of a woman

who will check out

before i even know the sun has risen

I keep falling for the same women

dying or dead

with hearts on

do not deserve

I know I am no god

I know nothing of forgiveness

I carry such a sadness

for all the sorries I’ve never received

to know I cannot hold you close

to know I cannot forgive

is to know you are no longer with me

there are no crossroads

no latent reunion

You had no desire to be a lover

we, a casualty of human nature

sometimes love is letting you die

do not disturb

There must be a way to remind myself

this bed

is not a casket

oh, lucky you

who gets to be spirit

I’m forced to remain human

But we are both daughters

to someone

//a glimpse//

of everything that is good

and just

and right

We right

& write

until the world knows of this unspeakable tenderness & our undeserving need

to be known as legacies

as daughters

of daughters

who may beget daughters

My pastor once told me,

in prayer

I have to use the only words that work

today it’s fuck

today it’s die

tomorrow it may be live or love or or or

either way you will not respond

I am learning my posture of worship is my head thrown back

two middle fingers in the air

screaming fuck the unworthy

There are things that I’ve said that did not sound godly

there are places I have been that look nothing like heaven

I have been begging a deafened lord to write messages over your heart

but your funeral is not my burden

love is no religion

this is no church

it’s just this hotel room

where—like me,

everything is used

but seemingly new

we are significant and other

the door is calling

& it’s time

to check out