Poétique

Differently

Don’t let them kill you, fight like hell
I am just as scared as all the others,
What could one become if only to
Want for a cage we can never leave
Separate from it all, in a broken air
I have a hopeless wish of forgetting
Everything I know in the landscape of life
A deep and long yawn of exhaustion
Tremors of the future shake my skull
I am like a monarch with one wing
Sometimes as capable as a crustacean
Regenerating my limbs that feel
In some way found bioelectrically

My heart wakes up differently
Every morning the rhythm is the same
The contents redissipate
Many different shapes are awakened
The home to a bajillion
Promises of better tomorrows
Ripping the gut to shreds
Hunger for existence is persistent
Like a ship docking somewhere
It has never been before
The mysterious waters below
Are full of answers to the questions
Of a rising tide that wants more
Passion and yearns for acceptance
While every sense is heightened
A resurgence of the almost extinct
Will to grow again begs to be held

Weeks

It’s not my intent
To leave you
Hopelessly cornered
But to remind you
Of the friend
You haven’t been
The world around us
Is constantly changing
But we can stay the same
There are many more
Years to come
I am not the one
To be left in the dust
I am not the one
To live on broken trust
You are not the one
To go above and beyond
You have not been singing
Our usual song
One thing matters
When another thing doesn’t
People come and go
Life begins to make sense
We learn how to
Go the distance
After we’ve grown
Older than our legs
Know how to take us
Many trials will
Try to break us
What we have no control
Of is the least worrisome
Of all if we
Are here in ways
For one another that we
We know somehow
To be but if we cannot
Then we have chosen
A different route
We only have
Four thousand weeks

Unnamed

There’s a lot of tension
Between the both of us
I thrive best when I know
There’s a way out
Locating the other side
Swallowing my pride
I found a portal out of the
Best part of a jungle
Past the heliconias
Stepping over the sundew
Under the waterfall
And into a freedom from
Codependent claws
Seeking to tattoo
My body with lifelong
Tiger claw marks
Projecting to make me feel
Like I can’t do it myself
As if there is no one else
That my success was
Solely reliant on your
Presence but my sword
Was sharpened
Machete ready to cut
Through the nonsense
The size of a tropical storm
From this a new dawn
Was born a plant to seed
Collecting rainwater
Nurturing the soil
Pitching a tent to
Protect myself from a
Grave danger I regarded as the
Passion grew more powerful
Too the intensity of life
Truly bloomed into
The most beautiful flower
Still yet unnamed

Cold Tree

First frost is close
Iceland is near
Feelings of cold
Rejuvenation
Icicle clarity 47°
Mental baptism
Are we progressing
Just making more
Or standing still
Revolving in the same
We make new things
To feel alive
But if stuff
Is all we have
Then we have
Nightingales
That aimlessly dive
Cobwebs in our eyes
To climb the tree
To see if the top
Is as cold as the bottom
Is much more meaningful
I can see this is
A popular spot to rest
For every bird
Another coyote
Looking for breakfast
Is it cold
Where you live?
Do you think
Of things like this?
I imagine
It would be warm
If we were together

School Bus

Fog on the windows
Making baby foot impressions
With the inside of our fisted palms
Writing your name on the glass
Memories to last a lifetime
Freezing cold or burning up
From kindergarten on until
We finally find ourselves
In high school life
Catching the lookalike bus
Different drivers but the same
Neighborhood the same houses
So many years later
How did we get here?
True connections and
Colorful dreamscapes
As the sky changes
From navy black
Stars disappear on the
Horizon into grey fade to pink
Opening blue bright blue
On the bus with you
Our stop the closest one
To school and find ourselves
On the longest ride
Picking everyone up
Along the way sitting beside
How many hours did we spend
Becoming friends
After school today tomorrow
Whatever life brings
Smitten by our kindred hearts
Unpacking things
Intertwined unwinding
Old friends on a big yellow
Machine that took us round
On the wheels of life
Our friendship was found
In years that continue on

Seasons

The sun wraps around my face
After long dreams of being in France
Working as a stenographer
Learning to type is learning to speak
Like the language of life
We wrap ourselves so deep
In the meaning of friendship
And the loss of our loved ones
And again the sun wraps around us
Like a giant blanket that can only
Be received in the form of light
This is the beauty of the morning
Starting again when we had nothing
Left and at our wits end the day before
A heavy sleep and a few hours
To peek into the other side of the veil
Rejuvenates hope and springs
Forth a moment to begin with
New connections down the slopes
Of unpredictable waking life

Brown

It rained last night
It’s really quiet
Years’ve gone by
There is still a mist
Hanging in the air
No doubt fall is here
Faded blues to grey
Old anxieties brown
Can disappear now
Everyone will go
Back inside
Less commotion
Calmer activities
The pressures to
Be active will subside
Our dreams are deeper
Our sleeps are sweeter
A silver sky cools the
Overworked and
Hardened mass displays
Enjoying fall for
Cozy winter’s
On its way

Saving

Roses are red
Violence is blue
She ticked all her boxes
And forgot about you
24/7 the clock goes around
Oranges are orange
Bananas turn brown
If the sky can flip blue
Some wishes come true
Miracle somersaults
Twisting into a
Backflip bonanza
Beginning anew
If you could change
One thing…
What would you do
Heartbeats are red
Teardrops are blue
Saving the world
Is a hard thing to do

Unto Myself

I don’t want to hold you
Completely accountable
For being a bad friend
Like you left me in the
Lost and found bin
Attempts to steal back
The happiness from life
I’ve worked so hard for
Wrap it in a box
Put snow on top
And gift it to myself
I’m still learning how to
Appreciate what I’ve
Been given
How to be living
People come and go
But we are with ourselves
For the whole road
And this is one thing
I am most interested in
To keep aliveness
Breathing into my
Walking being it is
The capsule and the
Temple I must sweep
Everyday it is the moon
That I must dust
And the sun that
I must shine
The only friend to
Hold accountable
Is mine

Anima

Longing to be
More interesting than we are
My best friend heart
Has always been with you
Normal and natural
I even cleaned your room
A vocabulary is growing
Expectations have been slowing
Looking at the whole
None of us have it exactly
So feel the feelings
Burst through the ceilings
Make the journey ‘round
A globe of experiences
Paths less tread
Circle back before we’re dead
Longing to be
More interesting than we are
My best friend heart
Will always be with you