letting me tattle tale on a bad day
with your telephone wires
and frayed soul edges
glistening in the starlight.

hug the sky
give as much love
as you would a puppy
because the sky
cries just like you
sleeps just like you
gets lonely just like you
because the sun and moon
are too far away
for the sky to talk to
hug the sky
and the sky
will hug you back.

don't look down,
icarus.

trust me
and fall.

if you feel insecure
let me hold you tight
i will love you
when you can't love yourself.

if you start to fall
let me be your wings
i won't let you hit the ground
or at least let me hit it first

when you're in pain
i can try and be your medicine
but i know i can't cure you
unless you let yourself be

don't destroy yourself
i can't keep putting you back together
eventually i'll run out of thread
and my needle is wearing thin

please don't leave because i stayed
don't break me when i'm already so
stop blaming me for hurting you
when i'm the one with the bandaid
and you're the one with the blade.

write yourselves into dust
and fly away with your ink
and paper cuts.

of course it's painful,
watching him dance
with another star,
but i'm content
watching from afar.

i promise i'm okay,
though i know i'm hurt.
i like smiling when i think of him
even if it makes my chest contract too.
i was the one pushing my raft out at sea
and hoping he'd be the one to reel me back to land.

i'd consider myself less foolish
this time around.

i promise i'm okay.
all i need is chocolate ice cream
and a sad movie
and the pain will ebb.

It's just a waltz I'm doing,
just a waltz, you see.
The exhilaration deafening
as we dance gracefully.

It's just a dance I'm dancing,
just a few steps, you see.
We're moving so fast,
almost dangerously.

It's just a ballroom I'm in,
just an empty room, you see.
A cloud hangs over us,
quite precariously.

It's just his hand I hold,
just his hand, you see.
But it's like an iron anvil
and it's much too heavy.

It's just the music I hear,
just the music, you see.
I can't hear my heart pounding
and no, it's not for free.

It's just his eyes I see,
just his eyes, you know.
They're blue and dangerous
but they always seem to grow.

It's just this man, I think,
just this man I love.
It's just a waltz across
a mopped kitchen floor
with just an open door.

you are lovely
lovely for struggling
against a world who hates you
lovely for fighting
even when you're on your knees
lovely for walking a dark path
even though it costs your innocence
lovely for enduring
the cruel whips of your self-hatred
for you know no enemy
as wicked as yourself
but you are lovely
a glowing blue haze of victory
for you crawled all this way
through black ashen rain
through rampants of pursuers
through torrid heat and anger
to see the light and now
you can bask in the sun

you are lovely for enduring.

you added me to your life
but subtracted yourself from me.

we multiplied our love
but you divided it between me and her.

our force grew less and less
because our acceleration died.

newton's laws no longer applied to us
because we became unequal opposite reactions
to each other.

motivation is
inspiration
in movement

whenever i think about you,
i always remember when
we danced in your front yard
at 9 pm
in front of boys
in front of your dad
in front of people
i didn't even know
and just didn't care.
we just didn't care
how bad our moves were
or how awkward
the stares were.
we just didn't care
how grainy the music was
on your broken phone speakers.
and of all the memories i have of you,
this one's my favorite.
and one i'll remember
with a smile.
because even though you told me
you didn't need me anymore,
i will still remember
fondly
but maybe
with a touch
of bitter sadness.

"Yes it was," said he.
The girl looked into his eyes
And wondered at his naivete.

Who was this "boy" that
she'd mistaken for a man?
Had she fallen for a rock,
or a pit full of sand?

"You think it was your smile,
That caught my heart that day?
You think it was your hand
That led me down astray?

You think that I by my wits
Couldn't outwit you
When you cracked my heart
When I didn't want to?

Nay, my love for you was not,
not for outward appearances.
I was deceived by it, however, and now
my heart is full of grievances.

You arrogant donkey, full of ****
and full of wicked thought.
You call me a kettle
when you yourself, sir, are a ***!

You have no intellect worth admiring,
yet you talk of it admiringly.
And because of my own shine,
you only see yourself in me.

Putrid scents in your mouth,
and all I hear are roses.
To have me depart from you
like sea water, I ask of the prophet Moses!

You drool like a child
when you stare inside the mirror.
If I ever bore you your firstborn,
you wouldn't even see her.

Nay, I loved you not for your face
for now I only see ugliness
wrapped in beautiful distaste."

And so with a wave of her hand,
she left with a soft-spoken goodbye
as he slowly sat down and decided to cry.

let me swim away
              let me dive into the ocean
and leave the world of humans
              to dwell with the creatures
that lie underneath the surface
               let me run away
let my feet turn into fins
               so that i can race the dolphins
the water is bluer than the sky
               i've always wondered if
ocean creatures want to fly
               let me lungs breathe water
and let my freedom become the sea
               let my freedom become the sea
let me swim away
               let me swim away
let me breathe the water
               let me breathe the water
and race the dolphins

i have been doused in gasoline
the moment i fell in love ;
and you took a match to me
the day i fell in love ;
held it over my head ,
teasing teasing teasing ;
now i suffer ashes
oh the burning
burning
burning .

paperback spine.
you have a paperback spine.
it is creased with liquid white.
liquid moon.
i trace my piano fingers
to feel your used.
the used is how the white came about.
the stories you've lived and told.
you wouldn't tell me that it was
painful
but i've already read it.
your paperback spine.
there was bad.
and there was good.
you've seen colder winters than i.
i've asked before if you regret
your paperback spine.
if it becomes unbearable to show
vulnerability as a color.
as the liquid moon
dripping down each crevice
you said no
because honesty
was what made the liquid moon white on your back.
you were proud of that.
and i didn't ask anymore.

it's the anchored sound of piano tiles
hit
struck
gently
by eagerly peaceful fingers

it's the pedal and it's sound
aching
breaking
groaning
under the pressure of beauty

when all has been stripped of
goodness
kindness
loving
it's the sound of tiles and pedals

that
remain.

opposite me, a window
a crystal thing I see
on it, a raindrop
just as crystal as before it seems.

i stare, i stare blindly
i wait, i wait impatiently
for it to move just suddenly

changing seats, just me
the raindrop not so active
near it, another raindrop
as crystal as before.

i stare, i stare increasingly
i wait, i wait impatiently
for it to talk more freelt

from the drop, sobs escape
it's almost strange to hear
startled, i cradle it
intrigued, i hold it to my ear.

i stare, i stare dumbfoundedly
i wait, i wait impatiently
for it to quiet minisculely

in the reflection of the water
i let a smile grow
gently i kiss it goodbye
for that was all i know

and that was the end
of our silent conversation
where the raindrop cried aghast
and the memory seems too fast.

i sit, i sit a little sleepy
i wait, i wait
(though patiently this time)
for new company again.

for

          whom

                         does

                                     the

                                                 raven

                                                              cry

                                                                         when

                                                                                      all

                                                                                                that's

                                                                                     left

                                                                      are

                                             graveyards

                                 full

                     of
   dead

                       souls.

Can a broken heart,
be compared to a lily field,
where every stem a sword it wields,
their smiles sweet, their words bitter?

Can aching feet,
be compared to footprints in the sand,
from days of old and days of man,
where journeys traveled over yonder?

Can a hoarse voice,
be compared to howls of dark wolves,
cinnamon tasteless and not of cloves,
when taste buds are uselessly used?

Can red dry eyes,
be compared to blazing suns,
ones that do not walk, but do not run,
and never fly faster than the wind?

Can a senseless poem,
be compared to fickle hearts,
where it depends on a person's part
in their imagination?

the soul of this city
        calls me like no other


the lights shine across
         a beacon i long to see


this city has my heartstrings
        tied like thread to its core


i want to see my ancestors
         that traveled that land before


the soul of this city
       calls like a song to my being


but more than seoul would I like to see
in korea itself is where i'd like to be

the sand is spilling ocean
the sky is leaking sunlight
the earth is seeping life

and to those who have
sorrow escaping from
their heavy-lidded eyes,
do not hold it in.

the sand can't hold back the ocean
the sky can't contain the sun
and the earth can not prevent
a life from blooming with all its might.

everything is pausing
hesitating
cautiously.

when will we give this game up?
this game of pride and greed.
throw your walls down
and break down theirs.

don't wave goodbye
to a chance you never grasped.

as brightly lit as i am,
i was forgotten
among the stars.
a ship lost in moonlight
searching for a skylight
that will never reach the dawn.
take my hands,
and do not regret
pulling me to shore.

from my mouth
grows a sunflower
with every breath
from my lungs
a vine entwines
itself around
my ears
and i can hear
the whisper
of all my fears
i lay in a bed of roses
silent broken and still
time is an icy wilderness
surrounding me
as my tears
fall frozen
to the ground
and the sunflower
bends it's head
into my darkness
and dwells there
instead.