Flowers bloom,
Glisten and grow
And then wilt in the end;
Yet the one that brought them to me
Is here until
The last sun sets

The worlds collide—
We collaborate in time,
Countries connect;
Come together,
Creating harmony
In chaotic catechisms,
Unprecedented and powerful.
We chant and chime:
“We will survive”

Resurface
Reverb,
Renewal,
Revive—
Speak into Mother Earth
And our existence will thrive

Dewdrops glisten down my spine,
Doorways creak
Closed fast behind.
All I can think is,
God,
What a waste of time

Time
Is relative,
Pain is not;
How seamless
We pass through moments
Yet how entrenched
In the wallowing
Swallowing echo
Of a bitter cry in the wilderness

What does it cost
To be so free?
No strings attached
Yet none to tug you back
From the beyond,
No hand to hold you
When you feel gone,
None to keep you back from the brink

The sun wilts through
The windowpane
And I warm under its wings.
What graceful days are these
To chime away hours in solitude,
To wait for resolution
To a question asked again
And answered only in song,
Patience,
And absolution

You are a crystalline castle filled with an oceanic virtue that rises and falls as I breathe in deep. The sight of you still stuns me into a silence that rings in marble halls hemmed with ornate stained glass. I will never be wise enough to know the great chasms you have fallen into in your grief, but I promise to be there to lift you up. The silhouette of your body cradles me as I sleep, a comfort so fully realized that I've known it only in my deepest dreams. I love you completely, knowing your heavy and seeing your dark. None other ignites a spirit inside me that soars above the highest sight. You are a masterpiece among what some may call wreckage, I know is the most precious gold.

I find myself stopping in a crowd of people and time slows still. Their laughter, their unpredictable movements, the fights and the resolutions and the bonding of brothers--all quiet. I am left in the fabric of things to wonder at the tapestry we call a culture.

How am I to know what is proper when all have their own true mothertongue? Who can teach me what to say when all I know is jumbled and disheveled based on who I've been and what I know?

I leave behind a southern legacy of liturgy and doctrine that outlines exactly what is human and exactly what is not. I step into a society that constantly years to fill a void--please Lord, find us someone who knows the Truth.  

Their apathy and nonchalance is false; bravado is left wanting. I know they they all cry out for connection and seek it in flesh rather than spirit. I am caught in the midst of the pursuit of happiness and the quest for morality. I know not what brings joy to humanity, I hike towards that river and hope it is not run dry like all others.

In the study of psychology, I have found so many places where words fall short and the great carnal animal within all of us takes precedence, demands attention, seeking comfort in a world that often overlooks those that need it the most.

Love is a fragile, timid thing that is most often hard to find and difficult to voice. Instead, we lash out in aggression to hide that inner child that needs a tried and true comfort of a known embrace. We seek forgiveness and express it in anger, manipulation, meeting our needs however possible because this is America, after all.

This is all we want in our sequestered human heart, the beginning of redemption.

Wonder wallows
And wades awake
Watching and waiting
For a grave mistake.
Out of the dust
Comes revelation;
Out of chaos,
Revolution.
We seek and find
In solitude
And grow
In destitution.
Will we learn
What we yearn for
Only in
Absolution?

How tenuous
Life is—
Delicate
As a dragonfly wing.
We hold fate
In our hands
And love
On the edge of a kiss.
Fragility
That speaks:
We will never know
More
Than this

How can we feel
Human
When all we know
Is horror
Inside a mind
Meant to create
Kingdoms
And instead
Harbors calamity

How often we feel ashamed
When our skin could glow,
With all the ruin
We have survived
And turned into poetry,
All the defeat we withstand
And walk away from,
Leaving yesterday
And braving tomorrow

Will we wither away to nothing
Or will we build a bridge
With tethered hands
Tied to the pursuit,
Grounded by the earth,
Defiant
And determined
To find nirvana
Beyond the wilderness

To hold pages
In your hands
Is a world
Awakening

The bubbling brook
On the river's edge,
The fierce knight
Nearing the stone ledge

Mysticism
in the ink,
Lyricism
in the structure.

There is peace
In this,
Reading
Until life
is Colored,
Blurred,
and whole
Again

We entwine
Our bodies
But our souls
Are Worlds
Apart

Crevices Aching for Connection
Touched by
Wandering Hands,
Unknown
to foreign
Hearts

Heartache
Pierces
Who we are,
And what we hoped
To be;
May it unravel
Our loose ends
And turn them into
Calligraphy

You’ve gotten so lost
In never again
You’ve forgotten
The symphony held
Within dark clouds,
The harmony
Of thunder

Joy
Wittles away
When a candle
Of passion
Is snuffed out—
But oh
How the spark
That lit it
Did shine
Bright

Constellations
Connect
In celestial harmony—
As will we
If only we
Can keep
Our heads up,
Hearts high
Towards the sky
We descended from

What is beauty
But a mask
That holds faux joy
We trick ourselves
Into believing
We possess;
What we lack
Is not beauty
But connection

I seek
And wonder
At the withheld
And intricate
Fabric of things,
The joyous tundra
That fills my soul
With ice
And promise of spring.
Where is joy
When dark seems absolute
And the chasm threatens
To swallow whole
The entirety of me?
Come close enough
To feel the aura bloom
And the vibes
Of triumph
Yearning to break
From the temptation
Of destruction
I so often find

A kiss
Can lead
To
Broken
Promises
But the thrill
Is worth
The fall

I tell you
That secrets weep
And poison creeps
From kept deceit
And yet
We hide
And scheme
And pry
And fight to shield
Ourselves
From each other’s
Eye

Laughter lilting,
Depression lifting;
Life ascending
And Love alight.
This is
The truth
When you are with
Your best friend
On rough
Seemingly unbearable
Nights

Her eyes,
Her confidence
Hold truth ethereal,
It matters not
What she was
Only what
She is brave enough
To transform into
And thrive as,
A woman
Stronger than scorn
And happier
Because she is
Finally
Herself

Seek
Solution
Need
Restitution
When will
These people
Marked by
Color
And known
By grace
Have a voice
That isn’t only
A chorus

How can we
Breathe
Without
Anxiety
In our chest
When all we do
Is for a paycheck
And we still
Can’t afford
Rent

Your burden
Is not too much to bear.
Give your heavy,
Show your dark,
And I will etch a patch
To the light

Check message
Facebook
Check message
Instagram
Check message
Send message
Wait
Check
Look;

When did relationships
Get defined
By a read receipt?
Will we
Now
Only measure intimacy
By a tweet?

What do we have left,
Why can’t we
Go back
To laughter
In a diner seat

Romance
Comes
In waves;
How we love
The rush,
The swell,
And how
We begrudge
The crash

Minds
Wander
Because
They are brave;
They go
Where they desire
And ask no one
For permission

Tangled
In a grove
Of clovers,
We seek our luck
At the end
Of some far off road
Not yet defined.
Yet
When I look
Into a face
I’ve known
And designed
I find grace
Blooming
Within,
Surrounding me
With the warmth
Of identity

Poetic
Vibes
And crystalline
Times;
This
Is the age
Of the 20’s

Wonder
Waits
For you
To open yourself
Up;
To breathe
In
The aura,
The resounding
Belief
That magic
Does exist

What a
Magnificent
Mistake
It would be
To speak to yourself
So cruelly,
Lying to yourself,
Saying:
You are only worth
As much
As your productivity

Sometimes
You do
Your best
And pour
Yourself
Into
Another,
A profession,
A piece of art.
And it is not enough.
But do not believe
My love
That it is you.
You are
So much
More
Than enough

If traveling through space
Is an odyssey,
What is it called
When I search your soul
And find Nirvana?

Do you not know
That there are worlds
Within a disappointment,
A whole constellation
Of opportunity.
Hidden in the resolution
Of failure
Is a promise
Of restoration.
As we leave
One instant,
We enter
Another lifetime,
One with pages of story
Freshly printed.
Your journey
Wanders
As your experience
Expands;
The destination
Is the masterpiece
Strung together through days
Of collected mistakes
And a kaleidoscope of moments,
All to lead you
To the one eventual
Celebration
Of all
That you are

Expanses of sky
Open up to
Opportunity—
Where will the wind
Take me?
Can I sail on the current
Of air and smoke
To a place where I
Can start anew?
Can I wander on the ether
To a world that is understanding
Of the hustle and bustle
And ever happening of life,
And a place that will bring me
Empathy
In a world that is filled with
Void?
I daydream
On the airplane,
30,000 feet
Above the reality
Of a world where I am known
As a number
Rather than a name

Due dates;
Schedules;
Deadlines;
Dates,
A revolving strain on time,
A resulting
Pressure
For proven effort;
Will
Our productivity
Decide
Our professional fate?
We look inward,
And contemplate,
And find
Our update
Is late

My comfort
In this office
With my notebook
And degrees
Are secondary
To the known
Truth
That you deserve
To believe
In the beauty
Of life
And the necessity
Of your mark
For the book we write
As one

The strongest
Diamond
Is cut
Deeply
By
The
Most sincere
Of love

From failure
Sparks
New birth;
Out of ashes
We rise
Aflame,
Fists raised
Up,
Hope held
High

My mind sings
Of sonnets,
Laments
And soliloquy
That all reveal
One epiphany:
Not all the words in this world
Can do justice
To a love
Such as this

Worry
Pounds like rain;
I force myself
To remember
That stormclouds
Are thick with rage
Just before they break
And calm returns to the earth
As the storm recedes,
As it will in me

His calming word:
“Stay”
Her Anxious fear:
“Go”
Walking a tightrope
Between fear
Of abandonment
And the present promise
Of safety

I cough
And feel the sickness
Rise
And wonder
How many babies
Ache
From the same
Affliction
But are not
Treated
Because of their
Race
Or place
Of origin

Black
May seem dreary,
But it is
The color of ink,
The river
Of creation
That makes
Stories
Soar

I would rather
Hunt you down
And excavate
known treasure
Than spend a lifetime
Chasing the rumor
Of satin and gold