Liar

I no longer wear my heart on my sleeve,
holding my feelings at the edge of my tongue
watching them slip down my spine
right to the tip of my fingers,
concealing the sound of pulses using similes
and weeping tears away in raw metaphors.
I turn off rage by ripples of genuine poems
as fire sets off fiercely, deeply inside of me.
Today, you could rise like my favorite morning
but I'd say I'm in love with the night sky.
Bring joy, pull those giggles out into stillness
as I pretend to find myself in silence.
As your warm presence enfolds me
I'd tell you how I find solace in the cold,
how feeble my memory is, just like my youth
and yet how strong my will.
I know you listen carefully,
I wonder if you ever believe me
but I hope you don't.
Nothing is authentic about me these days,
except for my poetry.