This is for every time I

Have complained with you beside me,

Stressing antics and petty figures,

Chest pains that erupt

Because sometimes

You just plain forget

To listen.

Licking frosting off your

Fingertips you mull over time,

While im screaming about

The burning clocks

You pretend to turn a blind eye to.

I swear sometimes

I’m running my nails down a chalkboard

Just trying to tell you a story about falling in love

With people and trees

Facial expressions and rows of teeth

But you forget to listen

Because it doesn’t involve a one night stand

Or cigarettes

Or booze.

So you forget to listen

To me screaming,

Scraping words off the back of my throat

With blood and skin under my fingernails

Trying to convince you that maybe

My very ordinary weekend is worthy

Of being listened to

In that half second break

 When you’ve stopped to take a breath.

In between the sentences that

Bleed

Stories of how awful your perception on life is.

You forget to listen to me

When you say no one likes you,

You forget to listen

To the break in my breath

When you say the only reason you’re here

With me

Tonight

Driving down back alley streets

To your favorite restaurant

Is because you had no one else to hang out with

 And then with a sober mind

You look over,

And call me your best friend.

A word I once though meant a little more

Than the cab driver you see every weekend

Because that seems to fit our

New relationship.

Chained to a concrete stomach

I am screaming for you to listen

For now,

You pretend not to hear

The anxious cries

Of the only voice left

Willing to stay with you.