city love

city

boys jump off me everyday and into the river

girls burn my feathers like pages turned to air

and i write poems in my mind like lists of excuses

i'm trying i'm trying

once i hit center

i always return-

i've forgotten what punctuation is for

no endings only line breaks

which are like breaths

i write in breath

were you an inhale or an exhale?

lines break

boys jump off and

girls burn

we commemorate

with names etched on metal 

on brownstones and under sidewalks

Lived Here Once-

wings pressed under glass at the museum of natural history

love