Something
The morning’s cool,
the rain is gone from yesterday.
You hold my hand
and everything is perfect.
But the waves wash out
from coming in
and all my doubts
rush back again.
The way my life’s
been playing out,
nobody’s perfect.
You held me tight
I held my doubts
that it wasn’t worth it,
it was my first kiss.
Something
The morning’s cool,
the rain is gone from yesterday.
You hold my hand
and everything is perfect.
But the waves wash out
from coming in
and all my doubts
rush back again.
The way my life’s
been playing out,
nobody’s perfect.
You held me tight
I held my doubts
that it wasn’t worth it,
it was my first kiss.
White Waves
You give me a problem.
Tell me to solve it.
So I pick up my pencil.
And think.
And think.
But there's a bird outside
the window.
It has pretty blue
feathers
and a sharp
yellow
beak.
And there's a car
driving by,
a shiny black
car, with
four white
wheels.
Snap!
The crack of the
ruler
on my desk.
You move me
away from the window,
hand me my pencil
again,
tell me to solve your problem
again.
So I think. Again.
But there's a sign
on the ceiling
that says 'gullible'
and there are math equations
on the board
that look how I
imagine my grandma's
thoughts must look;
jumbled,
nonsense.
Rip!
You tear the sign
off the ceiling.
Swipe!
Gone are the math
equations.
You move me to the detention
room,
hand me my pencil
and I think.
And think.
And think.
But the white walls remind
me of white caps on waves
and suddenly
there is no place
like the ocean.
No place
like any place
anywhere from here,
in this room
of white walls
and pretty birds
and fast cars
and problems.
Poet’s Prayer
Take my life, Lord
take the sight from my eyes, Lord
take the skip from my step
and the memories from me head
but please, Lord, don't take my words.
Take the food from my mouth, Lord
take the roof off my house, Lord
take the songs that I sing
and the wonders of spring
but please Lord, don't take my words.
The Perfect People
Friendship.
You pick a random human being
and then say,
"Yup, I like this one."
That's what it is though;
a simple attraction
that pulls two people together.
Weird.
A friend is someone
who has faith in you
when everyone else has
given up on you.
They are there
on your darkest days
and your best days
they don't care which it is.
When you're in jail
they'll be in the cell next to you
saying,
"Well, that was fun."
Friends are like stars;
even when you can't see them
you know they're always there
watching your back.
The thing about friendship
is that it's hard to find
like a four-leaf clover
rare and lucky.
When you do find it,
you will want to cherish it
keep it close to your heart
and never let it slip away.
Ashes to Ashes
That spiteful serpent
called love
bit me on the hand
today
I reached to stroke
its graceful crown
to intertwine my fingers
with its grand coils
taste the spice of
summer sands on
it skin.
It turned to me with
starlight eyes
sweet aromas
and cunning, curling
tongues.
It smiled with seductive
subtlety
and whispered strange, lengthy
passages of scriptures
into my ear.
And in a moment of
innocent ecstasy,
it turned its majestic head
and sunk its teeth into my
palm
and watched with pleasure
the path of poison
as it traveled like fire
and turned my heart to ash.
Hello
I see her walking up the steps of the school. She can't be more than 32 years old, but her hair is graying and her eyes hold more knowledge of emotions than primordial feelers. There is a perpetual depth in her gaze, which looks right through everything and anything.
She opens the office doors and the vague scent of yellow roses delineate her path into the chair beside me. The woman is quiet, contemplating the neat assortment of fountain pens displayed on the peach colored counter. I look at them too, first with my head tilted to one side and then the other, but whatever enigmas she envisions in their monotonous surfaces escapes my careful eyes.
She doesn't say anything to me nor I to her, we both just stare at nothing and think of everything. But I know in her head there are many things she wants to say. I can see it in the way she occasionally turns to me and looks as if she will acknowledge that I am there. But she doesn't and that is fine with me.
I sometimes feel like I know what to say and will turn to her to say it, but the words are never there.
So it amazes me when the words, by some unknown audacity, climb out of my throat and address this stranger.
"Hello mom."