Ryan Oelke

Angels are circling around me like vultures waiting for the end, and I'm lying here smiling up at these messengers of Love because neither of us can make the first move.

Centerless center spinning tops inside Russian dolls, revealing your romance every time I say goodbye to the doves and crows who nest in my bedroom.

This path to God is a waltz moving to the beat of a wisdom-laced heart, and while I circle about you, the bartenders in this tavern keep pouring wine over my head. Now and then when I'm not distracted by the beautiful women singing love songs, I catch a drop on my...

I gave you my body and my dreams, and all the empires I've created and destroyed, I've sacrificed heart, throat, and crown and now I stand before you naked as the sky at dawn. I am, but I do not know my name. I am called whatever the birds sing on quiet mornings, the...

I've been keeping one hand under the table the whole time you've been talking... I'm holding on to my safe word, and I dare not whisper it in your ear, but shout it when you least expect it, so I might vanish behind your tears and hide just one more moment before I die.

In these silent moments sadness beckons from inside my chest, "I told you so!" These barren landscapes leave me no choice but to let her sing her omens - This wailing banshee is trying to punch a hole through my breastbone... And I might let her, and perhaps just once...

Love hired me to protect Death, for without his immense, striking austerity, she could not adorn my flesh with her ornate disposition. And so I built for Death a revolving door to my soul that I guard, Love circles maddeningly within, laughing, until my eyes flutter...