My hair is covered, my intellect is not.
My feet are covered, yet I'm still going places.

My ears are covered, my hearing is not.
My back is covered, yet I'm still standing.

You've imprisoned my tongue, my words will never surrender.
You've imprisoned yourself, yet I'm still trying to set you free.

Three a. m.  I  went outside.
Full moon lighting night
Wind blowing in the new spring leaves
Dancing along wood's edge.
Unknown blessing in my path.
Alone with God,
Yet feeling the presence of another.
The night sounds warning of impending loss
The leaving of my father
As he traveled to eternal.
The wind was his gentle touch as he left the earth
Gently brushing my hair.
'Thanks, daddy, for the visit.'

I used to read your poems
but lately you don't write
you're silent and aloof
you know that isn't right.
You can't close a door once opened
you can't abolish all your dreams
you're a poet of the heart
mustn't fall apart at the seams.
Say what you can in words
they speak the message true
spoken from the heart
the poems will see you through.
A hermit's not your style
a recluse, you are not
never give up writing
of things that you've been taught.
I used to read your poems
I'd read them once again
if you would send them out
(this one's from a poet friend)

They said,
"The most beautiful art is
looking into someone's eyes
when they talk about the
things they love."
And I said,
"Or looking at someone you love.
Or maybe, just maybe,
by looking at the mirror
is the most beautiful art
anyone should appreciate."

The universe loves a bad joke.

you gave me... a town
and a fake moon and a mismatched set of stars
and you gave me a window
and you gave me rain
and i thanked you for it
right before you told me
you locked the doors

you say you gave me what i wanted
as if you'd ever even asked

and so i sit in this room
in this house that i cannot leave
and the rain washes the windows

did you know:
i would give you my life
and my breath.
i would give you my hands,
detach them for easy transport,
i would give you my doubt and my fear

it seems you had felt more content
to steal these moments.

i would have given them willingly

it does not matter
what i would have given

because it is gone

"What have you done"
Is a question I run from
Ever since that fateful crime
I committed on a dime
Then my conscience turned on me
And the darkness covered me
So in shades is where I am
Blackened, *****, little man
What once was a lamp has been put out
Blank minded as I walk about
Protect yourself; look, and see;
Don't become a man like me.

In the morning of yesterday
There were strangers talking in my garden, heads close together
Intent on each other, in whispers
I heard them say your name
And the earth shifted a little...the season moved forward a little
And I heard myself sigh like a dreamer

Harvesting hearts and marigolds
The thief steals in when we least expect it, masqued and lithe
Wanting an exploration of Souls
Oblivious, if we’re generous
But still the knife cuts deeply...the blade turns without intention
And I’m bleeding out like a Madrigal

I loved you too much in the Mirrorfall
I found you in the violin’s shadow
Dust and star tears are my witnesses
I love you
My joy and my abyss

Tryna brave the belly of the beast
But this enemy of me
Has got hands-

I’ve never metaphor for anxiety
Like this one
Imposter syndrome-

I was only a dark forest away
from who I needed to be
But feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy
Are twisting clouds so forebodingly 

Mara’s army fires arrows
Raining streams of self-consciousness
Like I wasn’t ready to self destruct
on impact -
detonation

I laugh and share memes of self-deprecation
Social media the new god
Where we worship ourselves
By constantly trying to impress
everyone else

Venmo me Dopamine tributes
With the truth in a cave of
depression and
Isolation

Maybe Holly’s right
And I do need to be here
She shines the light
On the darkness
In the hospital wing
5th floor at Evanston
But I’m afraid I’ve grown too codependent
On this astral plane
I’ve projected
And romanticized
these Ambien nights
Only to awake neglected
Screaming out her name
In sleep paralysis
On a dark night-


When I’m manic
I try to live it out like I’m in a movie
Projecting inner struggles
As external conflicts
To make the scene more interesting
Until I’m in this final battle alone like Odysseus
Lost all my friends when the monster ate our ship and I took em for granted caught up
Between a rock and a hard place-
Depressed and Hyper-sexualization
when spring is here again

I’m in the first act dip
edging the ******-
Stimulating the simulation

She said "I'm falling in love."

I said "I'm falling apart."

Talk to me like rosemary and oil,
Like the sour with the sweet,
The heat of the noodle stew,
The first sip of a red wine,
The juicy steak with thyme and shiitake
Look at me with eyes as gravy
And talk to me like honey
That drips like melting ice,
Like fennel and onions,
And biscuits with peaches
Talk to me like umami risotto,
Like viola lemonade
And cinnamon cherry pie
Sip me like your creamy earl grey
And talk to me like toast and egg,
Like bergamot marmalade
Talk to me this way

I mistook you for a glass,
When I poured all my love
Into you

So many poems
and stories
have gone unwritten
due to fear of not being good enough

If there comes a time
that you might lose me
Find me in my poetry

For years,
I have wondered why the father
   of a loving daughter
would want to shoot himself  

        in the face.



I don't wonder anymore

your name is
forbidden in
my mouth
or in my heart
because when
i think about
you;

i'll cry a little more,
hurt a little stronger
love a little softer
because you no longer
make me feel sober

i'm drunk on the
memory of you

I love him
I tell myself
I know that
We will be together forever
I don’t believe that
We could be separated
My thoughts tell me that
He’s the love of my life
Sometimes my heart lies and says
I could live an eternity
Without him
Like my friends say
“We’re perfect for each other”
And you can’t tell me
He’s not the one.

Now read from bottom to top.

You are the abundance of stars only visible to the dreamer in the wake of night

The sun and its companions as they glow to shine a light on the surface of your skin

You are the mischief that forms the toothy grin on the face of a child’s curiosity

The everlasting glow on their faces as they question the world around them

And I am lost in translation, confused, amused and somewhat enchanted

To you I am the clouds that hide away your blue skies

But to me I am the ones that shield you from the glare of a jealous sun

And to each other we are foreign, bordered and misunderstood

Lost in translation I’m waiting for you to understand ,
That to you; you’re nothing, but to me; you’re my dreamland

So what
I am a very religious men
What about you?
You think I am a religious
Fanatic?
You are wrong about that
My friend
So what
I am always praying for my father
My friend
Because I must do that
Or I will be punished
By my father
Yes my father is very restricted
With his rules
And I live by my father’s rules
So what
I am one of my father’s children
And my father made me
With his holy hands

i spend my days
pouring myself into the cups of others

only to find that
when it’s time for myself
to take a sip

all that’s left
in my cup
is the remainder of a girl
who gave too much

The poet lives two lives.
One on the outside,
And one in their mind.

When you look in their eyes
You could see an abyss.

If you looked long enough
You could sink into it.

But most people don’t see it.

Take the time to read the words, though,
And you would know for sure.

The poet lives in two different worlds.

i still
do not know
the poem i've been trying to write
and maybe
that's because
i haven't been
writing one at all
or maybe it's because
the poem i've been trying to write
is not ready for paper
and maybe
i'm the paper
that's not ready for it