You walk in
and my sanity walks out.
I’m just your victim.
I always fall for your inescapable charm.
Forgetting it is only a ruse.
to mask your Medusa’ gaze.
Go ahead toy with me.
You always win.
Ruminate in the ruins of me.
You’re a vulture.
leaving behind death and decay.
Go ahead.
Swallow me whole.
I’m lost in the breast of your parasitic whim.
all that’s left is the carcass of a once innocent soul.
-Tosha Michelle
Only Words.
by Tosha Michelle
What does it mean to be a poet?
I spend so much time with paper and pen.
Rehashing what was.
Regurgitating what could have been
Lost in my mind’s madness.
Moving like the speed of light.
Trying to catch some long gone comet in the sky.
My words hit or miss.
What am I trying to convey?
I’m stuck in creative recession.
Maybe, I’m just a fool.
Drowning in syntax and emotions.
I Loved Him.
by Tosha Michelle
I loved him once.
the boy with summer in his eyes.
I wanted to offer him the luster of asbestos
to stroke the flames of an autumn fire.
Instead I watched him fall.
into a bed of thorns.
Sharpen and ready.
waiting for the unwise.
He lay before me.
bleeding poison.
adorned in the pains and wounds
of a love untouched
a rosebud erased.
Cover me in your mesmerizing verse.
You words kiss my skin.
I’m lost in lyrical bliss.
Intoxicated by your rhyme.
Pulsating with your rhythm.
Recite your ballad between the chords of my legs.
Your anointed tongue
licks the core of my soul.
Stroking and coaxing my emotions.
Tangled up in the wildness of poetic expression.
I come undone.
-Tosha Michelle
The kettle of my mind.
Boils over and spills on the pages.
Words saturate.
Evaporating regret.
Burning away fear
Creative impulses take over.
Absorbing my muse in every line.
-Tosha Michelle
All that’s left is the echo of you.
I hear you in the wind
whispering to the trees
while the red bird flies
and love dies in the chill
The stars once bright
gaze down with dull eyes
The river flows faster
carrying with it regret
I lie in the grass.
where we shared our first kiss
and we spoke with white clover tongues
lyrical verses that burned in the sun
Our hearts were joined in a fiery bliss
Love grew but in the end
all that was left was bent, broken branches.
The sun set and the cold crept in
Blanketed in darkness.
I lost my muse to a vengeful moon
-Tosha Michelle
You’re still asleep,
The sunlight illuminates your masculine grace
A sweet smile plays across your face.
Oh what a dream it must be.
Your body echoes
chords of a blissful reprieve.
I hate to wake you, but
dawn is here, and it’s time to rise.
Soft kisses and coffee in the early morning light.
-Tosha Michelle
“how sad and bad and mad it was – but then, how it was sweet”
― Robert Browning
Nostalgia echoes
Chattering for the past.
I try to grasp the reminiscence notes.
The melody is bittersweet.
I dance with memories in my hallucinating solitude.
My scars are bare. A testament to what once was.
What could have been scratches and picks at them.
Bleeding for the remains of love, buried in a transcendent alcove.
The devils hide there taunting the mind.
Only satiate when I drown in grief
and choke on the ashes of yesterday.
-Tosha Michelle
Desperate kisses are the best kisses.
They are like velvet teeth
biting softly into my resolve.
They whisper from his lips.
Holding promises of passionate caresses
Of heartfelt proclamations
Filled with boldness and vigor
Like the hero in your favorite book.
Kisses that make you crave his touch.
and drown in his soulful look.
Dangerous, intoxicating.
The best kisses are desperate kisses
-Tosha Michelle
He hides his coldness behind a mask of charm.
His true intentions only to disarm.
Lies escape his lips
That never tell.
He plays the game so well.
He is an obsession
A handsome vision
With one glance you’ll be smitten.
He’ll wrap you up tight in his contradictions.
Fanning the flames
Of your incineration.
Poem, music and artwork by Tosha Michelle
Everything I Never Told You 