My Cardboard Balcony

One Lovesick Crazy by Belinda Roddie I folded you up like a Valentine's Day card and slipped you into my back pocket to keep you dry to keep you safe to tuck you into a new silver locket I gobbled you up like a bag of candy all in the shape of a crooked heart of my own crooked heart of my own toxic heart and you're part of my system forever Roses are dead and violets are cruel Don't ever do to me what I'm doing to you

I watched my brother's relationship crumble before Valentine's Day, and yet here I was, holding my wife in my arms, slipping a chocolate between her lips and laughing as she chewed. I saw my brother holding roses in front of a locked door, the stems wet and scratching his hands, the buds finally beginning to bloom, but all too late.