Suddenly You've Won, Because You Told Me I was Worth Fighting For (or, Word Trophy)

I'm sorry for how uncomfortable I get when the answer
Isn't obvious, or easy


But I love the way you never let me go
In bed or otherwise
Because no one

Gets my hair rats-nest-tangled quite like you
And you hold my chin so firmly when we kiss
As if my cheeks are what you believe in, my lips exist
As every conviction you've ever had
Your calloused hands, my porcelain skin
That flushes lusty, harlequin candles
Whenever we are close

Because you know that all I am in love with
Is the romance of old film noirs
Darker than dripping alleyways, darker than
An airport's 4 am sky

And yes, you have been an antihero
And I have been a femme fatale
In my black dress, my whiskey
In my cigarettes and my hatred for men
Kissing you in the rain and making a plan just in case

And yes, maybe we had our hearts crossed behind our backs once

And I'm sorry for the love letters I never
Sent, even though I had the stamps and the time

I am a serpent, but the way you charm me...

Your voice desperate but calm, deep
As the ocean floor that can hardly be photographed
And maybe I choked on saying back what you told me
But I have my head above the water now
The blue inside my jewelry veins
Is the icy pacific, all broken seashells and salt
But we were born of the same cold
We are made of the same skeletal constellations