Splashes

A wonder

My young eyes

Widening as water spouts

In a million directions asunder

The childlike urge to run under

And dance as though in a storm

Thunder

Sloshing footsteps

And jovial exclamations

T-shirt sticks to skin

Licking ice cream stains away

Soaking wet we run and play

Tomorrow never dares to cross our minds

Today

We live

And make memories

Little artists of creation

T...

It is easy to get lost in the underworld

To trail off the main path

Following the crunch of dead leaves

Or bone

Or dreams beneath your feet

All roads lead to hellfire anyway

Even steps lightly taken

Are echoed by screams of lost souls forsaken

And no stars litter the skies for guidance

Only endless ash whistling past

To let you know this moment

Is no different from the last

No gust of fres...

Heavy weight of winter

Keep spring from me

Drag me by my ankles

Through would-be fields of flowers

Still deliberately icy

Still sleeping, nestled into time

And bury me safely beneath frozen roots

Let frost creep over me

Keep me in its bondage

Lest I glimpse blue skies and ask myself

Do you think the sun gets lonely up there?

The question burns too much to bear

Let clouds keep me from the plight...

Lights in the windows

Always lights

Always strange blue birds in flight

Reflecting as they’re flying past

Century-old buildings built to last

Pinky and puffy powder clouds

Blue birds pass through, crying loud

People bustling down below

Watch the birds pass to and fro

Blue birds bathe in iridescence

Capturing the city’s essence

Look closely at one in a tree

It’s perched on all your memories

...

When the poetry’s too loud

When the words seep in my bones

When sorrow tugs and scrapes my heart

I gag and stifle a wretched moan

I look up

Watch raindrops coat the window glass

I find one making it’s way down fast

I let it guide me as it slides past

The others that stand too still

And in its motion I can breathe

A drop in the ocean

A wave breaks over a reef

And in the break I find reli...

Looped into

A life lived twice

So don’t worry about me

I’ll get it right next time

Whatever these lessons

I collect on the way

Wash away from me

By the end of each day

But let’s say I stay hidden

Nothing grows in the dark

And what doesn’t grow

Doesn’t age

And what won’t age

won’t die

Life’s safer in a cage

A nicely packaged

little lie

I’ll just turn away

and ignore any signs

I’ll ca...

You were a stranger

Taking shelter from the rain

Not sensing any danger

I asked you when was the next train

You said ten minutes, maybe five

Then you asked me for a light

Watching the rain I felt alive

Lighting your cigarette that night

Red and blue lights pooled together

Making purple puddles dance

We stood swaying with the weather

I felt the fire of your glance

I looked over to meet...

For a brief moment in time, I had forgotten anyone cared about me at all. The beat of my heart in my own chest sounded unfamiliar. I couldn’t recognize my eyes in the mirror no matter how hard I stared. This brief moment was brief only in the span of our vast universe. In actuality, it lasted years, with only intervals of relief. I lived like a mammal confined to rough seas, breaking the surface t...

I walk in the shadows

Among pillars of my past

Stopping to see the sights

Of all the things that never last



With the ghosts of memories

I walk hand in hand

And each place I revisit

Feels like uncharted land

I don’t meddle with the present

Staying in one moment stales

I’d rather walk through all that’s been

Safely memorialized, lest the future fails

Erecting monuments of shadows

Excit...

“Can you turn the radio up? Just for this song? It’s good I promise,” I plead with mommy.

Mommy turns the song up and I start singing along, and waving my hand outside the window to the guitar. We’re having the best day today, I love Saturdays! Sometimes I like staying home and watching cartoons, but today we went to the park and got ice cream. I watch out at the window as the song blares through...