I’m your new jewelry box.
I already know your name.
What a beautiful name it is.
Your mother’s hands opened me.
They all sounded different when they touched me.
I will play for you when the room goes dark so you are not scared.
I will sing until your breathing evens out.
I will keep your rings, your bows, your trinkets.
I will keep them safe until you need them.
You don’t wind me anymore.
I never liked having a song stuck inside my throat, but I got used to it as the years flew.
You’ve filled me with bracelets now
thread pressed into thread and pulled tight
Names that might not stay, but the bracelets will.
They smell like the ocean.
She has never seen the ocean.
You’ve stopped leaving them.
You wear them all at once now
Im afraid you'll cut off circulation, but I dont think you care
Your hands are much colder now,
Your bracelets climb all the way up your wrists like youre hiding something.
l can see it in the mirror.
Im still watching even if im shut.
When you started doing that,
I thought I would be empty.
I thought I would finally rest.
Just then you gave me something sharper.
Something that is not jewelry.
like you were trying to erase what you put inside me.
The ballerina won’t stop spinning.
She used to turn because of the music.
Now she turns because she has nowhere else to go.
The blade glints even in the dark.
You are scaring the ballerina.
She tries not to touch it
like it could possibly save her.
You know I can feel everything you put inside me, right?
or buried it somewhere I cannot see.
in the lining where it rested.
It still smells metallic In here, and I think this time its too permanent to go away.
I dont want to carry that, but I guess I have to.
You keep bringing me things that are not supposed to be stored inside me.
Things that choke the air out of me.
a tiny, unnoticeable hitch
She says the smoke sits low
Her lungs burn, her eyes burn
She says the lighter is worse.
She is scared flames will engulf her.
You open me only to look at yourself now
Or what’s left of yourself in the glass.
I try to glue your face together like a puzzle
and now I can’t keep you whole.
I show you too many versions at once.
Just like how I see too many versions of you.
One with stickers all over your face,
One with eyeliner and braces
And you with the same face but happier
But I don’t know the difference anymore
between keeping something safe
or helping you disappear.
I am tired of holding things
The ballerina is still tilting and spinning, her lungs still burning, her eyes red with tears.
Please, just open me one more time.