Venn Diagram
Mirabella Miller

I habitually arrange my hoop earrings in a Venn diagram
When I retire them to the stillness on my nightstand
The hoops I jump through for you can
fill a thousand basketball courts, can
stack to the skies and catch a rogue star for a long three.

I talk about you like i talk about the kids I babysit
when their parents come home and ask if they've been good
and they haven't, but I say they were anyway to avoid interrogation.
You could live off the benefits of my doubts,
welfare for the half-hearted.
I have become the Titan of your life, your Atlas
Shouldering nine lives to your one,
Two lives to your none.

It is hard for me to reside in this space we share
Because I need to make it mine.
You wrench the judgement out of me, you
make me make my presence felt.

It is hard for me to reside in this space we share
Because I need to make you mine.
I can feel your annexation
as I breath the guidance into your contracted-lung-consciousness
that needs expansion and release.

It is hard for me to reside in this space we share
Because I can hold my own here, and you can't.
And doesn't that bother you?
Your inadequacy?
I don't know if you could tell, but it bothers me.