Karen

you put a ring of salt around my head so the ghosts can't pass through the walls. 

you say "i love you" in latin and the demons pull away. 

every kind word melts my red wax heart.

in our solitary confinement, we write in charcoal on the wings of white doves and send them 

to meet beneath the moon and sun. 

i pull apart pale roses and whisper my dreams into their petals.

my night sky was missing a star but you taught me the meaning of the word constellation.