“Natural” is on my skin

I wear it every day

Some days I lather it on thick

To stun and then decay

An “act” moves fast to show my past

And stick the landing twice

To win a friend is in the end

The nicest way to die

When the world stayed in to pray

My skin was free to breathe

How cruel to let open pores sing

Without an audience

As the space will grow between

My acts and shiny skin

Who will let yo...

Going back to my childhood home was never part of the plan. Not yet. Not in my late 20s.

I got the call in the middle of a meeting with my co-workers growing impatient in hushed tones. The patience in the world always seems to run away when money is involved. It was my brother and he rarely would call me at this time knowing I am always quite busy.

"Mom is sick," he finally muttered with a fit...

The pillow feels hot.

It seems to be smirking beneath my cheek, as if plotting to drain all the moisture from my face.

I sweep my right leg over the other. The rest of my body follows closely behind to forcibly land in my second most reliable sleeping position.

I want to just go to bed. But I can’t stop thinking.

How could she just take it?

You can’t just take toys from people you’re supposed...

On light’s timely birth

I descend on that big metal box

Sore eyes and tight fibers

Lead me to the arc of nature

Lay hands in open cold box

To find crimson gem

A beacon of her sweet salutation

Fellow man wrapped sweet buds

I pour her love on glass

And surround it with friends

The crown is her’s

Even next to faces staring back

Placing juice of life to mouth

Blood on lips, flames on plate

Expe...

Bring me that parchment

Which lies on the south-facing shelf

And I will show you how magic is born

Through dreams and cliches

A battle is fought

In search of what is pure and true

How often it is that these places thrive

And breed on the unknown

But we liven the power with passionate words

Magic is thought to be in the air

And love can surely last a lifetime

Yet I live to find boulders th...

Awakening begins as a glimpse

A moment in time followed by similar ones

Separated by a sea of other moments

Awakened moments are often spaced like this

But one hopes to bring them closer with practice and rituals

As the frequency increases

The more awake you become

And the more alive you feel

Until one day you drop out of your body completely

And all that remains is being...

I resent that

Wouldn’t you?

Hold on

Take a moment to be hoisted into my being like a child being placed in yellow wellies before taking on a rainy day

Well

You could do it if you made the effort

Maybe you need more empathy in your loins

I resent that

With a passion

I do

If my friends were here they’d tell you what’s up

They’d tell you how I think and act

I wouldn’t need to say a word

But I rese...

He would be leaving soon but his expiration date had not quite arrived. A friend had told him, “God is just as stubborn as us,” as a way to pump some humor back into the old man’s veins.

In younger years he often thought of what old age could be like and would promptly return to the present with a keen sense on how to gain success in his world. Surely, it would just take some time and effort to ...

“Aubrey!”

“What are you doing?”

“Aubrey! We need to leave! Now!”

Susan frantically tugged on her friend’s cherry red parka as she stared off into the distance with glossy eyes.

“Hey! We can’t die here,” she exclaimed urgently.

As she tried to hoist Aubrey over her shoulders the heat from the blazing wreckage around them rose to more motivating levels. Sweating bullets, Susan successfully ext...

Who is to say what life is without you?

You who is maker of all that is

This is no love song to the best candidate in the sky

Or a mere whisper of what life with you already knows

Here lies an echo to bolden your text

As if you added some width to lengthen your final paper due tomorrow

It is unclear who steals your love most

In fact, most still struggle to find a soapbox

To stand on

To aim suc...