I’ve been away long

I’ve been away

To scared to pick up

Pick up a pen

Traveled a hundred miles

Thought I’d escape

This earth-crushing burden

This life-sucking burnout

Let my mind wander

And it came running back

Tried to lose my mind

It followed from behind

And then in

All the midst

I lose you

Baby Bear

The one only constant

In my mess of a life

My green matted teddy

I reach but only find...

To go is to get it

over with ;

To stay is to

spare myself a day

of meaningless misery .

To be present is to stay

ahead ;

To stay behind is to f

behind . a

l

Will it hurt me or help me...

I’m insignificant!

Cried the wee grain of sand;

Gather all my numbers,

Spanning deserts and coasts,

Count us all!

Look up at the sky;

Look past it!

The stars outshine the sand.

I’m insignificant!

Cried the star we call a sun;

One hundred thousand light years,

One hundred billion stars,

The Milky Way!

Watch as we churn;

And me-

An average star among brighter.

I’m significant!

A speck of dust su...

I give you permission to stay

or to leave

I give you permission to laugh

to cry

to feel

to live

I give you permission

to not know

where you are

or where you are going

and wander

I give you permission to wonder

to think

...

It’s okay

To not

Be okay

But when

Is it okay

To be okay?

A leap year and a day,

And am I okay?

You passed on the first day

Of Passover

And no one much felt

Like having a Seder

I mourned your death

Before you died

And soon ran out of tears

Fourteen days until

Passover returns

How do I feel? I don’t know

But all thirteen years you had

Eleven spent with another

You found a place in our home

A pl...

I am intelligent. I haven’t always known this. So many of my early memories are filled with the adults in my life gaping down at me before letting out hearty guffaws and exclaiming to my book-loving-never-baby-talking parents about the extent of my vocabulary, as if they hadn’t noticed.

So many of my elementary school years were filled with teachers wracking their brains because when I asked ‘why...

How does one become a

What makes one a

Who am I to call myself a

Poet?

How does one write

What makes my words

Who am I to say that I make

Poetry?

Meter

Couplet

Refrain

Rhythm

Stanza

Pentameter

Rhyme

Where is mine?

Free verse

Is worse

Give me

S R C U E

T U T R

Give me sestinas

Villanelles

Haiku and Sonnets

Limericks and odes

Ballads galore!

Break...

Amrynn’s eyes grew distant, considering. The memories were streaked with motion blur, and ‘not long;’ they opened their mouth to say, only for their thoughts to be interrupted by the soft ticking of a clock.

toc… toc… toc…

…still there?

“Eeh!” They jerked, swiping away the spidery touch. Someone yelped, yanking back a hand. Blinking, they stumbled over an apology. “Sorry. Sorry! I spaced. Wha...

Just a little more salt in my soup

Then it will be enough

Just another page in my book

Then it will be long enough

Just a few more clouds in the sky

Then there will be enough

Just a few more hours in my day

Then I will sleep enough

Just a little more joy in my day

Then there will be enough

Just a few more words on this page

When will it be enough?...

If I were a thought

I would pass you by

Two,

Three,

Four,

Is company

Five

I arrive

And suddenly

a crowd

If I were a sound

I would echo

If you were a cavern

you’d answer back

If a crowd were a room

it’d be empty

If I were a thought

I’d pass you by

why

do you

give...