9/9/2020 Bitter

It’s bitter
Like coffee
(Flakes of ginger,
Not enough sugar)
The way it goes down
And burns to
The stomach-
The idea that I can’t heal you,
Can’t make it right can’t
Undue the crimes
Against your body-
Mortal beings stuck together,
Tangled string,
Answers to heavenly questions
Stuck in between-
The cracks in floorboards,
Cigarette burns on
Restaurant tables,
The words we pass back and forth,
The smiles we force,
The laughs we use
To break up tension-
To say it’s alright when we all know,
We are not fools,
We all know
The cost of realness, sometimes
We don’t have the change-
Foreigners on an earth that
Does not love us
Not one of us
How could it, it’s
Broken with us it
Takes our bones without thanks-
The rain is the tears of those
Told not to cry
It’s not easy being human but
If we drink coffee
And cry together maybe the hurting
Will burn us less.