You break my screen door 

because you've become unhinged too

& you want me to know how it feels. 

The fists in your eyes

are concealed cries for everything 

that could've been. 

You knock a picture off the wall

because it shouldn't have been there at all you say,

we should've never met,

I should've never said

I love you.

but I don't feel it like you 

so you show me with broken objects, fallen memories. 

The sound of your voice doesn't have the same effect 

so your last words are a slammed door with a broken screen. 

.Laura Curren.

We talk & laugh 
until I forget what's wrong with me.
Your mind & touch revive 
what I thought had stopped breathing 
& lost meaning.
My tongue with your taste 
& the sound of your name
vibrating off my teeth
unhinge closed doors.   
You push all you are into me
& I hold onto you 
as if that's where you belong. 

.Laura Curren.

For awhile I wanted someone to have their 
arm around me as a prop.
I wanted exes to see that I could still do things,
I could still be fun while my thoughts were stamped 
by the same words over & over, that the light in my
eyes wasn't drowning by the weights in my mind.
I wanted smiles to create curiosity. 
I wanted to prove to people I could shake myself out 
of my own lovesick heart. I wanted to be a new 
confident picture. I wanted the wrong reasons. 
But when I sat to rest with my own thoughts 
after endlessly being out of breath,I stopped 
thinking about how people perceived my happiness. 
Not how it all looked, but how it really felt. 
While I was screaming internally for attention, 
I never knew that I was really screaming for myself. 
The screams turned into soft reminders. 
A moment of peace spread over my chest & decided to 
stay for as long as I invited it. 
I smiled, no longer proving it to others 
but owing it to myself. 

.Laura Curren.

You only care 

when I don't care.

When my words are flat

you want to stretch them out with 

wide eyed reminiscing. 

You want my reactions to fill hollow letters.

You want all my passion

but you don't want to keep it. 

.Laura Curren.

Every good quality
could be told to me
about somebody
but if I don't feel it,
I can't be told anything.
The chemistry of my body
has other plans in mind.

.Laura Curren.

I could collect all the poems on this earth
to tell you that you're the best there is
& for once I won't have to explain why,
it'll speak in my eyes & stride,
in the silent bond
of my rambling heart to yours.

Some trees might wonder 

why the rain can be so

volatile with its' love;

what gives life also

cracks branches in chaos.

This violent romance 

seduces swaying to one side.

This lust for love 

teases with softer strokes 

but shows

it's powerful enough 

to uproot comfortable-

whether it kills 

or forces growth

in a different place.

.Laura Curren.

Your actions murder

nostalgic butterflies but

your words bring them back,

your eyes sway their flight 

when you tell them you've changed, 

when you offer hands 

for them to land on 

but love is a verb; 

it takes practice & presence

it takes energy, 

it gives everything 

that sweet sentences can't hold,

it evolves with wings. 

.Laura Curren.

These lines on my face 

are maps to the memories 

I've visited &

they will show you the

bigger picture; I loved, I 

cared, I laughed, I thought 

deeply. I'm defined,

refined, sharpened by the years

but tending to my 

soft will keep me young 

no matter the shade

under my eyes or if my

bones ache. Prickled walls 

will never ask what

makes me feel alive & how

I radiate that. 

It's true that the more

open I let my heart be, the

emptier it feels

but when it's full, it 

brims to my eyes, it spills from 

everything I do. 

.Laura Curren.

Past loves have painted 

on the walls of my heart;

their art fades but marks me. 

I run my fingers 

over muted bright colors;

the magic remains 

but it doesn't cast the same 

spells as long ago-

it surrenders to 

the collapsing words, “Oh well" 

& finds life elsewhere. 

.Laura Curren.