Florence Mango

The Architect & The Acrobat

The tunnel

you’ve built is narrow,

but it’s beautiful, it’s home.

I will adore anything you made by hand,

even myself.

 

I never washed away the ink

you smeared across my cheeks. I was

your Rorschach baby,

your mirror.

I hope you still see yourself in me,

even the pieces you wish you could\'ve killed.

I’d rather be a bitter pill

than something that goes down easy.

 

This home

you’ve built is jagged,

but I’ve followed suit, I’ve taken its shape. 

I was born upside down, but you contorted me

in ways I never thought I could bend.

These days,

I dream about you finding me dead.

 

You’d shake me like hell.

You’d fail.

You’d finally cry as hard as me.

You’d say, “I knew she was too good to be true.”–

 

Something I should’ve known about you.