I Forgot How to Write

I forgot how to write
when I met you
you gave me nothing
to remember
No souvenir on this dresser
Not even a pic together
You weighed light
And I could not use your feather

I forgot how to write
when I met you
Your language
Seemed like foreign matter
A whole new strange encounter
It even made me look
Like a bad reader
A doubter
I pinched myself
To remember

How to write when I met you
I could neither feel
Your love
Nor comprehend
Your actions
That never matched
On the scale of your words
I forgot how to write
Because you changed
your mind
often
Not caring how I feel
I even looked in the mirror
A lot of times
Just to see if i was still real

As I peered hoping to see
As I paired hoping to see
On a pier hoping to see
Your light
Your love
Not something i comprehend
As resembling hate
Is there light
Through your window?
Is there even a crack of faith?
It bothers me
That you made me forget
Almost regret
To write
When I met you

Copyright©2026 by Camille Caliscia Patrick

Facing the Fire

Your manhood

is no kept secret,
yet the man behind it
is seldom revealed.

Maybe only
a figment
of a rejected past
you still drool over—

If in fact
it is concealed,

From the inception
I saw your fire,
yet walked into
your naked flame.

If you can't
smell the smoke
that engulfs 

you,

logic says
deny the pain.

This dysfunction,
by will or nurture,
is peril

to escape.

If the yard
is burning,
Must one
enter the house

to
suffocate.

Copyright©2026 by Camille Caliscia Patrick

A Path Chosen

A Path
That is chosen,
yet one that parts.

Cross-dressing the truth
to parade the deception
of lies.

So well dressed,
yet so naked
to the twisted perceptions
of man.

So placid
to the old,
foul mouth
of woman.

Yet invisible
to the eye,
the coldest heart,
the unkind soul.

Lost
to the accolades of man,
and the surrender
of any voice

that treats the truth
with scorn-

An undaunted privilege,

granted even 

to the most callous of beings

Copyright©2026 by Camille Caliscia Patrick