"her smile was pretty, but her body was strange/it could have been just the shadows from a passing train"

 Old poem from '09. I think it was in my chapbook Crack Cocaine Kisses and Other Poems, but like three people read that. Depressing as hell, but I'm fond of it.

"collapse"

you came to your collapse like it was a dance and you were fire

you looked around your empty room

as if you had just realized

that you were alone and were afraid of being alone

you came to your collapse without coffee filters, and so

you took to the vodka in the freezer, and began to toast

days you had dreamed up full of fashion and the flames of lovers

delusions go down like water, but fail even quicker when you chase them with liquor

you came to your collapse and you were fine

as long as you were absent, and the checks kept coming

the pill bottles emptied, the ashtrays filled, and you ceased being hungry

lost track of time, turned out the lights, and left the phone off the hook

you came to your collapse with no hope of a savior but against all odds, advantage, or anyone's wishes 

folks will come, the ambulance chasers who only care when you go missing

raise the shades, lock the door and pray

that whoever is there won't be desperate enough to find a way in