There are times
I want to squeeze the I love you’s out of you
like you are an orange & I am quenched.
Times I cannot imagine getting tired of your voice
or the reminder I am worth everything that you believe I am.
I once read a book in which the veteran goes back to Vietnam.
Finds peace. Finds water lilies blooming where he almost drowned.
If words can make a place safe, I will spend my life listening to you
tame the explosions inside my chest, until there is only the after.
I let you hold me
and this body is no longer a warzone.
Poems 