absentmindedly, he stroked her cheek 
but her eyes were swimming in the stars,
 novas imploding in her retinas. 

glitter, dust and rain
drizzling down into her lungs,
burning into ash that sparked
and sizzled with her stomach acid.

this wasn’t the first time that this had happened,
getting lost in the sky was a
past time of hers. he learned to hold
her hand when she started to melt,
and she learned to soar harder and drag
him away.

sometimes, if he was lucky, she would
wrap her arms around his waist,
and fling them headlong into the abyss. 

other days, she would lick her teeth and disappear
into her mind, eyes shut, drowning in celestials
that died thousands of years before.

it’s easier to love dead things, she told him
when she made him pull over so she could
say a prayer for a tire-tracked raccoon.

maybe that’s why their love was so hard,
because they were both painfully alive.
absentmindedly, he stroked her cheek 
but her eyes were swimming in the stars.

- collab with implexa, ladyparks and wildflowerveins.