---
title: "Unsent Letters II - To Gray, From Lacey"
pubDate: "Oct 7 2025"
---

you grind your teeth
so loud

i hear your enamel
safeword through the wall

every
night

you launch from the
world like a hypersonic

missile to crumple
on our bombed-out couch

you glower at a phone that
glowers back at you

for three straight
hours and then you

cook more
pasta

than i could eat in a week
and then you

think my music
drowns you out

saying
_at least i_

_use social media to
stay informed_

saying
_i like stupid girls_

_but-_
saying

_i will be okay_
_if i can survive_

_another year_
_probably_

some smiling
yellow xanny bars would reset

your jaw
we're all in this

shit but you don't have to breathe
it in

you don't have to splash
when you swim

when you're not working you're working
out when you're not working

out you're working out
your stress on some girl

you think is beneath you
girls you can leave

covered
in maps

of continents
we'll never see

you think i don't do
_real work_

you call
me _precarious_

like we aren't
all

one more election
one more crash

one more east coast superstorm
away

like we're headed for retirement
homes

for deathbeds instead
of tarps on the ground

by the way
if you want me

if you want to do
_real work_ with me

say more than
three words to me

do your own
goddamn dishes gray