Magic with Skin On

by Morgan Nikola-Wren

so give me adventure that writes its way through my story like a lover, and a boy with a body made of all my favorite landscapes sewn together

someone planted centuries in my soul. i get so very sure of this every time i try to stretch so much longing across one lifetime

i love you with a caution so reckless it's almost feral in secret, i pry open your ribs (like sacred church doors) i lay my heartbeat behind one of them for safekeeping but i don't tell you which

i want to run my hands up your childhood nightmares, to feel your dreams cradle my neck, so bring me all your grief-spattered mistakes the ones that trail blood and curses on everyone's carpets

unhinge the echo of you from my nerves! this is an emptiness too cold to carry, my fingers are freezing far past being able to hold anything dear again

i think i spent so long telling myself that love was madness because i was so scared of leaving your straitjacket embrace that's what you call committed

your kiss is like honey just not the way i'd come to expect: i can't ever decide how i feel about the taste but heavens, how it sticks