Non-negotiables

It's because I get tangled, you see?
Got used to being alone
Still love being alone, in fact
Makes no never mind to how much I'm diggin' on you
but you're an awfully cute monkey wrench
in my me time

Hope this isn't one of those non-negotiables
in things like this
Up there with cigarettes, dead cats and still living with parents
'Cause if I had to see anyone every day
I'd be locked up quicker than a Trekkie at a Star Wars convention

Kept alone on purpose,
needed to unravel those dark imaginings
Needed to figure out how I got so tangled for so long
Got it mostly smoothed out these days,
all the limbs laying about in proper order
and along you came
with a New Year's swagger and trouble on your lips,
and now I'm factoring in you time, too

I get tangled up still,
like I am right now
And I deal with it alone,
laying out every confusing thought and feeling and word and limb
like colored bits of yarn
Ordering and sorting and figuring until
something beautiful happens
A wobbly scarf that lays its understanding around my throat
with a kitten's purr and child's contented sigh

The process is embarrassing though,
which is why I didn't invite you
Wanna keep you away from the step-by-step
for a bit longer,
in case loving a mad woman
wasn't on your agenda for the next month

I won't give up on my me time
because I'll be damned if I don't love my own company
But I'm really liking the you time, too
Guess somewhere in between tangled and smooth
we'll find all the time we need

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