painting, for d.

venus in a
twilight sky over houses
on fire invisibly and nowhere
near the ocean

dark rooms without
human voices

stood in one of them and
told you i loved you and it
only added to the silence

only made the stars
shine
that much colder

if hope is the ghost

had nothing and i held it
close like anyone would

had the suicide’s number,
had her name, had
a letter that she’d signed
with love…

seven pages long and it
didn’t tell me how to
save her, so it didn’t
really tell me anything
at all