MIXALICIOUS IVS:

THE DISTILLED VERSION

This piece is a cento—a work of literary collage composed of fragments from existing texts, rearranged to create new meaning. It is shared here as an exploratory work in progress.

Close your eyes, so afraid.

Hide behind that baby face.

The ghosts of graffiti you couldn’t quite erase—

And these little things define you, forever.

If you can find a reason,

A reason to stay.

You remain, turned away.

Turning further every day.

The world has turned and left me here.

Just where I was, before you appeared.

Land of the free, I’m on my way.

Tonight the winds of change are blowing wild and free.

Is it up to me?

You won’t wait to see.

Where did you go?

You say you don’t want to chance it.

This is not affection.

I won’t survive.

You crack the whip, shape-shift

And trick the past again.

Infinitely spiraling me down.

This is where sadness breathes,

The sadness of everyone

A thousand times before.

I’ll haunt your eyes.

And I wonder what you’re doing tonight

When my phone rings

Can’t wait to hear what you say.

Sugar kisses.

I’m dying for another taste.

But I can never read your mind.

I used to be the one.

I used to be your getaway dreamer.

And these are the days that bind you

Together, forever.

We will wade in the shine of the ever.

Could it be that you’re joking with me

And you don’t really see

You and me?

Tangled up, tongue-tied.

Tell me what to do.

You sigh, look away.

I can see it clear as day:

On you I do rely

To get by.

All the things I forgot to say:

I never will forget those nights.

I wonder if it was a dream.

After summer is gone.

Without a touch,

Without feeling your love.

Tomorrow is canceled.

And in your place, an empty space has left a void.

Lying on the floor, I’ve come undone.

Well, I don’t know what I don’t know.

And now we never will.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again.

Love can last forever.

And if I don’t make it known

I’ve loved you all along.

I’ll carry these torches for ya,

that you know I’ll never drop.

We wrote our names along the bathroom walls.

Graffitiing our hearts across the stalls.

I’ve been thinking, babe,

Maybe you’re right.

When you say the pain weathers in time.

A look from you, and I would fall from grace.

But we’re never gonna survive—

This is not connection.

It was the heat of the moment.

Fine time, we all crossed lines.

Baby, you’re like lightning in a bottle.

I can't let you go now that I’ve got it.

They say it’s darkest before the dawn.

We don’t always get all that we want.

Cry at the joke, laugh at the rage,

And I’ll pray for the better days.

Love must be forgotten,

Life can always start up anew.

I’ve got nothing left to lose.

The future’s overdue.

Heavy as a setting sun.

No turning back.

Oh I’m counting all the numbers between zero and one—

Sunsets, no regrets.

You taste so sweet, it hurts a little.

‘Cause it’s some kind of sin to live your whole life on a “might’ve been.”

Tonight the winds of change are blowing wild and free.

In the air is where you will always find me.

Let’s be friends and just walk away.