it is so hard
to be gentle
when I always have
the taste of blood
in my mouth

©KNL

my mind
is a birdcage
rotten
with blood
and feathers

©KNL

there is an ocean
in me
it is vast
inescapable
many times
I have tread
the waves
that roll
through me
over me

I am
drowning
in myself
even after
all the lessons
in the deep end

©KNL

It is a warm summer night
I am 8 years old
My bare feet are stained
Caliche rock white
A remnant
Of hide-and-seek
I am alone
In my room
My sisters and cousins
Are playing games
In the room next to mine
My family is outside
Papa's laugh
Infectious
Through the open windows
The scent of barbecue
Permeates the air
I am still full on sopapillas
Shared with Mimi
After soccer practice
And smuggled candy
It is a warm summer night
I am 8 years old
And I am happy

©KNL

you speak
soft words
onto my lips

I savor your
sweet nothings
warm and lovely
on the tongue

©KNL

soft heart
soaks up loss
a sponge
to be rung out
used again
again
again

©KNL

we are all
silhouettes
of the universe

maybe
that is why
we can't help
but look up

©KNL

I was born a carpenter

I have been patching holes
in the walls,
putting beams back in place
so that the whole building
does not crumble inward,
the way a dying star does,
all fire and dust
in empty space

my hands are tired
from holding up
the weight of my world
with these rusted tools

maybe the cracks
will let some light in

©KNL

when we sleep
you wake me gently
to kiss me
tell me I'm beautiful
moon as our witness

that itself is a dream
I never want
to wake from

©KNL

feeling down
spun out
like a candy cloud
waiting to be
dissolved

©KNL

The depth of love
Takes my breath away
It is an ocean
An eternal ebb and flow
Serene yet perilous
It writhes under my skin
Pulses in my veins
Overflows my heart
Pours into my soul
Filling me with
The depth of love

©KNL

There are those who would say
That grief is love
Transcending time and space
Yet my love, my grief
Seem to coexist in a state of turmoil
Each writhing over the other
In a constant bid to be felt
Love digs holes in my heart
In which to live
Grief buries it
Stomps the seeds
Deep into earthen heart
Tears play a lament in the soil
Yet love sprouts
Finds its way back to the light
Dazzles grief with golden petals
Holds it with hands of leaves
Shares in the sorrows
Of that not yet lost
Realizes
They are one

©KNL

Jewels on black velvet
Lonesome moon

Hides

Sunflower on azure
Clouds threaten

Rain

I used to choke
On flowery words
I could not bear
To rip the roots
From deep
In my throat
Yet I find now
That I have grown
Full fields of blooms
In my very chest
Only to pluck
Every single one
For you

©KNL

You are a door
That I have
Never been able
To open
In a house
That was falling
Long before
I was born
Maybe
The latch
Was broken
Maybe
You lost the key
A long time ago

©KNL

We were thieves
That night,
Stealing kisses
In the moonlight,
A candle lit
To guide hands
And hearts

©KNL

Warm
Wind blows
Sympathetically
Caresses cold
Flesh

©KNL

Tears like honey
Reflect
Golden
Morning
Light
Reflect
Eyes
On
Mine
Reflect
T­ears like honey

©KNL

Sometimes
I think it might be nice
To not want or be wanted

To not be an item to be grabbed
Or the hand that reaches out to hold

There is a simple sort
Of naive bliss
In being a wallflower

Never plucked and taken away
Another forgotten decoration
In a glass house

© KNL

While Mother Earth watches herself die,
Sees her fields fade to brown
And trees bare their bones,
We sit and watch frozen tears glisten
Falling from eyes gone grey and cloudy,
Covering the dead in a sheet of white
To wait patiently for the breath of rebirth

©KNL

Can I settle
In your heart,
A most fertile valley,
Let me fill
My lungs with you,
A breath of fresh air,
For I have been a wanderer
Traveling far and long
In search of someone
That felt like home

©KNL

When the leaves have all run red as blood
And trees stand empty-handed
Diamond snow will blanket all
A land, by winter, branded

©KNL

Some days
I am floating free
Swimming 'round my head
Nothing to weigh me down
To keep me glued to the ground

But then again,
I suppose it's alright
If I drift about
from time to time

©KNL

Some words taste sweeter
When dripped from your honeyed tongue
Onto sticky lips

©KNL

Love
Floods in
Washes me away

©KNL

We watched
Melancholy pines
Paint silver moonlight
Into a velvet sky
Kept warm beside
A pensive fire

©KNL

I want to sink
My teeth in deep
A pomegranate gush
You could be
Sweeter than honey
I could be
Satiated by this flesh

©KNL

I glimpse something fleeting
On the stage behind your eyes
A dancer leaping from wing to wing
Sure footed in one motion
Yet stumbling into the next

The corners of your lips flutter
Butterflies ready to take flight
Held hostage in your nets
Sitting in wait of their freedom
Yearning to show their colors

©KNL

How do
I hold you
With hands
That are not
Always my own

©KNL

I just need some sleep

But I have to let it in again
Because it's getting ever louder
So I'll ease the rapping at the door
That tell-tale heart I can't ignore
And it lingers in my veins

Wandering these empty halls
It will blow out all the candles
And invite in the gloom
Darken each and every room
To make it more inviting

I will carry it around with me
Yet as empty as it feels
The weight only grows
And time never slows
But I will be fine

I just need some sleep

©KNL

Tell me,            
How can
Emptiness
Be so heavy?

Some days
The burden is lighter
A helping hand
Carries the weight
With a smile
Or maybe
I find a place
Where it would be safe
To leave it for a while

It always makes its way
Back into it's place
In the middle of me

©KNL

I am a hoarder
Of memories
Some of them
Adorn my walls
And some of them
Haunt the very halls
I seem to roam
Even when I feel
Oh, so tired

So I paint over them
Everything smeared
With colors astounding
Yet, somehow
They still manage
To fade to grey

©KNL

Often, I find myself wandering this hall

These empty walls feel
Familiar to me
Like looking into a mirror

Cobweb thoughts still hang in corners

I never come here to tidy up
Only to leave
More footprints in the dust

I walk into these little rooms

Places that are always
Easy to find
Why do I have trouble leaving

The doors don't lock around here

©KNL

Your name rests
Between my lips
Like a prayer
Or maybe
Something sweeter
Dripping off the
Tip of my tongue

©KNL

Wandering into night's embrace,
The moon will guide your way
As you look up to the sky,
See the trees begin to sway
You're following a feeling
You can hear it in your heart
Though this life is at it's end,
A delicious one will start
Your invitation glows ahead
A brightly burning pyre,
Silhouettes dance 'round it
Howling chants into the fire
Writhing bodies greet you,
Introduce you to this boon
As you step into the circle
'Neath the hanging crystal moon
A sacrament will soon begin
As Writhing forms reach deep within
Souls weave together through inner power
The overwhelming magic of the witching hour

© KNL

It's getting late in the day

Silence lingers heavily here
Where gleaming fingertips
Dig into scarred horizons
Running red with the light of a dying sun

Open-air hallways full of empty windows
Reflect what is left of the day
Into the faces of passersby

The only warmth they will find here

Eyes without faces march in lines
Parallel to uneven streets leading them
To places where illumination
Is only a figment of the imagination

©KNL

While daydreams reverberate
Off of blockade brains
We sit in wooden cages
Our painted faces
Plastered in melting windows

We watch pale skies
While waiting for rain
Or maybe the atom's apple
To break the monotony
Of thinking about the end

©KNL