surrender

prose letter write to a friend 8/3/15 https://soundcloud.com/mariah-li/surrender-prose-poetry-letter

To the girl watching through blue-tipped lashes,

          I want to thank you for listening to me; for being a shoulder to cry on for my virtual tears that have yet to come. You helped me remember that there are good people in the world. You lent me your hammer and told me to swing. We cracked apart the steel boxes we locked ourselves inside, and threw away the screws so they could no longer hold us back. I will unlock our stories.

          I read your poetry, Betwyn, and long to know you more deeply than I do. Let me show you how to paint on paper canvas, using brushes to shape your words into beauty. The spark is there in all of us, but tragedy flames the fire and some seem to let loose after they fall. Thank you for reaching out to catch me, even if I fell through your fingertips and I am hanging on threads. My sanity and my wholeness are slowly cracking, but maybe they're just weighing me down. Perhaps, if I let them go, you can lift me? Carry me to the moon and back so that I can accept that I am broken. Everyone has cracks. I hope knowing me can help you realize that. Apparently, we are only as strong as the glue we make.

          I wish Elmer's School Glue could fix this, but I've tried and it didn't quite work... all that's left is the semi clear pieces of dried adhesive and memories of paper mache'. Neither last long...

          I will be your superglue, my dear, if you let me. You have committed so much to mine that I feel I can simply drip my life onto you. I don't know you. I don't know your cracks or what leaves you broken, but I will listen and hammer away at any sharp edges I find.

     Sincerely,
          the girl with a heart-shaped key.