the months of autumn
september is like an apostrophe
waiting for what comes next,
an alarm that goes off seconds too early
or the feeling of ice on your fingertips,
cold, sticking to the skin,
a flower growing through the dirt
unaware of winter's slow approach,
the way anticipation feels
when you know that something is about to go wrong,
the smell of summer and mud mixing in the air
all around you
/
october grabs me and intoxicates me
like a spiked drink at a halloween party
lonely bodies crammed together below string lights
the month flashes by and memories of past octobers
blur together in my mind
the gloomy clouds float down from the sky
and slither into my ears,
they nest inside of my brain, make me their home
october blinds me with orange
and sedates me with grey
so much rain that by the time it’s all over
we spend nights pretending to be
people that we are not
/
november tells you to close your eyes
and presses cracked lips against yours,
skin, cold to the touch;
breath, warm like fire,
with every step leaves crunch underneath their feet
enveloped in red rubber boots and an orange coat
and when you open your eyes
november is gone
and has left your lips covered in icicles
unsure if the warmth was ever there at all
Architectural Wonders
The greatest feats of architectural engineering are situated all over the world. They do not belong to any particular nation, or to any one style or school of thought. What unites them is their imaginative scope and the enormous skill it has taken to bring them into being. Modern examples include the Hoover Dam, the <a href='https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/a-brief-history-of-the-suez-canal/'>Suez Canal</a>, and the Channel Tunnel. Ancient examples abound, too, for instance the pyramids at Giza, in Egypt, and the Great Wall of China, which can be seen from space.
These older creations have withstood the centuries to be with us today, and they were made at a time when electricity and machinery did not exist. Therefore, they were created by hand. This makes them even more of an architectural wonder. The imaginations of engineers and architects, in combination with the hard work of numerous human beings, have literally resculpted the face of the earth.
Pass it On
After I am dead, I hope that you who have received benefit from me will turn toward a more charitable life, passing on the gifts I have shared and using them to help others.
I don't ask you to choose my way of lifelife--teacher, artist, programmer, such choices don't matter to me. Be who you are. But be effective. Accomplish some amount of good.
Every gift deserves a gift in return but I won't be there to see it. Use it well, make money, explore, but when you're done, have something left to give to the next generation, and ask them, please, pass it on.
“There is a core of evil in all things good, and a core of good in all things evil.”
I came up with this after looking at the ying and yang and realizing that maybe people who do evil things do them for the right reasons and people who do good things do so for the wrong reasons.
But interpret this however you wish.
OBSESSION
in the darkness
your voice is as big as a sea
inside of me.
i remember you
as you were, standing
naked, half-erect,
the moonlight glancing
softly on your upper body,
making your skin
look so pale, like
porcelain. china-soft, open
to love and change.
you tell me all the things
you always expected to keep
secret, hidden,
and i touch them
like i’d kiss your hair, all
breaths and half-laughs,
so in love i can’t move.