There’s a monster under my bed

A monster made of socks

Of hair ties

Of dust

And paper

So much paper

Where did I ever get so much paper?

Crumpled sketches

Scrap Paper

Sticky notes

Assignments and quizzes with

Good grades

Fine grades

Try-not-to-think-about grades

And notes from every high school year

And books

So many books

Some are tattered

Some are borrowed—

By now, just call them stolen

Some a...

It’s impossibly ugly

The sweater

But I wear it each week

No matter the weather

Pilly fabric

Seams hidden

Not so well

Turtleneck which

Might

Or

Might not

Suit me

And bell sleeves

Which definitely don’t.

Slightly too short to be practical

Slightly too loose for comfort

Slightly too warm

Yet somehow too thin

Yet I wear it day in

And I wear it day out.

And however it flatters me

Or however it...

“Good afternoon, Mr. Goldberg. My name is Jean Roarke. I hear you wish to discuss a wish you made on the twelfth?”

“That is correct. Please, take get rid of this!” The man fiddled with a golden ring, twisting it around his finger.

Mr. Roarke nodded, then turned to his computer. “I’m sorry to hear that your experience has been unsatisfactory. Can you tell me who it was that granted your wish two ...

Ironically, it is right around thanksgiving when the wild turkeys make their rounds, strutting around like they own the place. All things considered, it isn’t entirely unreasonable.

A flock of females waltz by, elegant even in their subdued colors, leisurely going from one yard to the next. They care not for the occasional car waiting as some dozen of them mosey across the road, one deliberate st...

3.1415

Irrational numbers

92653

Phone numbers, ID’s

58979

French horn scale fingerings

32384

House numbers, license plates

62643

Spelling tests

38327

What’s your number?

Cool, I can’t forget it

I whiz through mental math

But forget to do the homework

I know one hundred and twenty

Four or five or six

Digits of 3.1415926

Did I take my meds at six?

No wonder I feel sick!

Sometimes I fear my mind ...

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...