It's the days when you don’t cry,
But you don’t smile either.

It’s the days when you’re quieter than usual,
And people notice.

It’s the days when you aren’t quite thinking about anything.

But if someone asked you what was wrong,
You wouldn’t know where to start.

you terrify me
because i know that in years to come
when i am finally happy and settled down,
you will come along,
and i wont even second guess walking
away from that life to be with you.

to be broken all over again.

- Leah

If you have to ask if something is a poem

Then, yes

It is probably a poem.


And if not,
Then it is now.

That is a poem.
I make(̶m̶a̶d̶e̶) it so.
I think, therefore i am.

It is.

You're hurting. You're hurting bad.
I can see it in your bloodshot eyes
And how you shy away from smiles
Directed at you. Now your once-had
Gleaming spirit dwindles as it tries
To cut its pain with bleak exile.

But blood is pumping through your veins -
Don't change its course with nails or steel.
Our love for you will never fade, though
You ask me what I'd do if somone else took hold your reins
And replaced you, thinking that would make us feel
Happier - without you? Never. No.

I feel anger and frustration because I'm only human,
But nothing on this planet makes me happy like you can.
I love you, you know that. Believe that in yourself.
So stay with me - you'll be with me,
a heart within myself.

Introversion is not a disease,
Please don't pity me when you find me sitting on my own.
Believe me when I say i'm happy on my own,
I appreciate your company but I love more time with me.
I've spent less time with myself and I realised it did me no good.
Do not feel bad for me,
Introversion is not a disease..

Dull skies have finally broken
Humidity lifts
and there is air under there--
The last of day
the barest blues
the singe of pink
held up by lumps of charcoal cloud
drifting in scent of backyard fires
The moon curses from its crook of smile

Then hides again
behind the city rooftops and blackened trees
among the aerial cheers of a football game

two miles away

My father used to sing this ditty for us:

"Columbus sailed the ocean blue
in 14 hundred 92
He sailed as far as Chicopee Falls
...and there he left his overalls"

When my teacher asked where Columbus landed,
I knew exactly where! Out of my seat, hand waving in the air... "Oooo ooo me! I know!"

"Yes, Liz..."

"Chicopee Falls!!" ...and I argued the accuracy, VEHEMENTLY.

At least Chicopee was a genuine Native Algonquin word, meaning violent waters.

Thanks Dad!

Fever too high
Doze
hallucinate
doze...

...into the blue sky
and watch the tracer upward
tip
hesitate
and turn toward earth
Split apart
in the widening billows of a scream
One that took the whole world down with it

“You-- who have mounted to the sky
will be cast down
with great violence
You, the golden cup”
set down

I am burning up at 103
Toss in the arid sheets
Chafed flushed cheeks and lips
against this living pillow
Desert
Hallucinate
Can't get a GPS on where I am
or a decent read on what's the time
But most of all – what just happened?

I toss and wake to slivered light
coming from another room
Hear the whispers
See their vacant faces
Must have walked into the den
Feel their shivers hush
my questions

Between the aisles of candlelight
and murmured prayers
I'm walking
Still in my right mind

“It's on the screen”
for all to see
without electricity

I have a fever of 103
--and the main question

Why everyone's transfixed
Everyone

but me
__


1-28-86

9-11-01

Ah, don't look at me like that
There's a simple way inside of me
The dark clouds control themselves
So just give me the books
Let the art clean the air
Pour me that stiff whiskey
She flips through the records
"Strange Fruit" please, if you find it
Leaning back in my chair
As my sons 65' mustang
Roars up our drive way