real / unreal

last night i had a dream         
            that my teeth fell
out all in a row.
                       i woke with them still
                                                          firmly in place,
                                              but the loss was real.

i know things now

                                    “and he showed me things, many beautiful things”- Into the Woods

i.

i wasn’t one to go off the path. stars became lanterns, hanging from the willows, limp branches flailing in the dark. i wasn’t one to crave. not then.

ii.

he lit into me. the candle in the lantern, star in the dark. he wrapped me ‘round his finger and i felt his pull the way we all felt things then, with quick rabbit beats and flushed cheeks and shaking hands. that’s the way it felt in wild youth, the feel of immortality pulsing beneath tongue. there was nothing but curved teeth and spit flying, each struggle a quickening, a death-dance immortal.

iii.

they say there are wolves in these woods. bright eyes and yellowed teeth. they say, men are wolves, always stalking, waiting under the light of the crescent moon. i told them i’d know a wolf if i saw one. i didn’t.

touched

late at night i think about you, and i can't stop, but i can't talk
to you because you are bad news i am desperate
to hear, and i am a bad girl who needs to sleep and not think
about your tongue in time with mine, your hands snaking
past lines, already blurred. i've been fucking
up for months now, but the way you touch
me with your eyes makes it all seem worth it, just
for a second. in the dark, i reach for you and find
only myself. but then, i have hands, too.