For Names' Sake

My cheeks
Were never
Neutral;
Not succulent like your peach's;

My hands were carved by
Arrowheads;
Your baby's out of
Sweet

Soft


Reception.


I'll never be Georgia.



I'll always be Oklahoma.

It took the distance to teach me
I'm
O.K.
Without
Being
G.A.

I am not peach.

I

Am
Rouge.

I am

Rich
Rough
Rouge
Red
Clay

That molds between your
Cold, northern, naked toes-
On the shores of a
Native day.


But you-
You were always wishing for things further East
Of the Mississippi;

You must have been charmed by her
"Southern hospitality".

But you won't be
Feeling my animosity
Anymore;

Just the loss of me;

I've taken the wind
And I've run away;

Away-
To thick
Magenta skies;
To bronze and turquoise days.


You're the contrast to my August;
The cold I ache to
Stave

Backwards from-

Towards the

Underbelly of summer,
When the starlit nights
Are on the run.

You approached an Autumn;
You called her by her name;
But I questioned the authenticity:

"As priceless as pure Jade?"


You paused and with your sick dependency
Said
"Yes, this one will do...
She might even be better;
She might take the place of you."

You're not the teal I knew.
You're not the man I knew.

You're the putrid aching asphalt;
My bare feet
Bleed into.


I was never meant for marching;
I was meant to be the hill.
But you rely on direction
And I meander still.


And maybe your blue-jean baby;
Deserved a pedestal;

But I'll sit here
Skipping rocks on The Red
And watch your castles fall.

I resent your invitation.
It replicated hers.
I should have known you'd be the one
With all the empty words.



So at home,
They become ashes.
Between burlap
And smoke.

And
I harbor on the hilltops
Truths
You don't believe I
Know.