how you fall is no one's business
but your own--

am i enough pieces
yet to be your stained glass
window? 
my tongue shattered on
the open mouth between the curtains 
& when the sun comes up
in the morning
(tomorrow)
you will look down my 
throat like a kaleidoscope?
when i lay next to you
on the roof i am reminded of
how in wind storms the
shingles would break off
like fish scales & scatter
in the yard--
my father would tell me to go
find them & i would
pick them up to fold them in half--
my tongue wore a halo
so the brave people in the first
row of pews would know 
everything i've had to do
to bring the color
through my skin-- these
bruises turn me into 
a catastrophe of light--
my favorite type of stained glass
windows are the ones that don't
try to tell you anything--
the quiet ones full of
different types of broken--
the ones whose patterns
take your eye out of your skull
& spin them to the dark side
of the sun--
this is where i go when i'm
tired of being marveled at
for how i break & how
i have broken-- this
is the place where the colors
of my body are quiet & there's no
one to notice the glass
stuck in my tongue--
i try to speak but something
in my throat turn all my words
to red & green & blue
as we lay there is scratchy 
prom clothing-- your tuxedo--
my puffy dress--
your bare feet-- my heels-- knocking
free shingles onto the lawn
like a storm--
how you fall is no one's business
but your own-- i'll put
myself together from my windowsill
so when you wake up you'll think
of no colors you found in me--
i don't want a lot of time--
i just want to be able to 
pull out the ribs that felt good &
keep them as a place
out of context-- a place for the
sun come back to &
light knocks on my front door
with a mouth full of halos--
oh sleep quiet & alone if
you want to keep any colors to 
yourself-- this stained 
glass body was never yours
to look through & there will
be mornings where you see the
sun come through your window
in a storm of glass--
knock the scales from
your back-- i'll toss my shoes
from the roof to find them
later & snap off the heels--
how you fall is no one's business but
your own--
let them think it hurt-- 
hide behind the sun if you have to