She wears her despair
Like a necklace.

Posts pictures of it
With a bleached sadness
In her teeth.

She smiles.

But she writes captions
About how sad it is
To be.

To "live."
That "life is a journey."
A "highway."
A "trek."
There's "always time to turn over a new leaf."

She finds power
In flitting about
Telling the world her sorrows.

She sweetens
To the sound of pity
On your lips.

Like a hummingbird
She wants you
To open your petals
So that she can take
Her tongue
To your nectar
And
Lick
And lick.

She is a pitiful thing.

She wishes
To be the bird.
The tongue.
The feather.
The petal.
The drooping stem.
The starving
Root.
The bitter dream.
the vibrant ecstasy
of a honey
tasting both bitter
and sweet,
like a nectarine
or the first hint of gasoline
before everything
is burning.