when little were dreams
and but bow down
coming full and for seconds
but the shrinking success
of the teaching mind
of the marrying kind

I woke this
I woke up like this
I look goddamnanddiamonds
so tonight could flawless
but the drinking

in the want of the flashing
has fitted but the smoke
the cigars
and this shit kitchen
washragbrainwaves
surfboardswervingwoodgrain
had happened but love drunk
if I say so
if I say myself

we’d be the all night tired
of keeping the fire
from spilling
how come the
spoon of the asylum
the boring
the climbingthewalls to alive
the no money from this
the reapingandsewing

I am wicked
I am haunted
my lungs the sheets
my tongue the would be
come get carried
away the song for the good girl
stop asking the all
making belong of my ghosts
I believe in running
areyouontomeyet

Allie Moreno has an MFA in Writing from UC San Diego and her work has most recently appeared in HTMLGIANT, As It Ought to Be’s Saturday Poetry Series, and the San Diego Poetry Annual. Allie writes about identity, belonging, and her experience as a trans-racial adoptee.