I became the crutch you leaned on
Supporting the weight of your pain
I put a cast on your heart
When it became too battered
I became your most sturdy stilt
To help you move on
Until you felt better
That's when you left me
Never did you ask if I sustained injuries
While I was nursing you back to health

Winter introduced itself like a
Sudden death in the family.
A -28 degrees celsius day has fingers
Thin enough to reach through glass,
Leaving its ice on the inside of
Windows.

I find candles and carry firewood,
Preparing for a cold one.
Out here, blackouts can last for a day.
My iPad and portable modem have
Battery enough for one
Poem.

Such are my priorities.
I empty my fridge into the snow,
Thanking the gods
For my beer.
Don't try to reach me. I'm remembering
Life from centuries ago.

How lonely would you be,
Sitting on the only rock,
Above water in a lake?
Can you cry,
If I were to die,
Drowned beneath these waves?
Listen to the flying shadow,
He cries, he screams, he travels with ******,
Foreshadowing awaited end, floating up,
Out of the water,
I can no longer touch the border,
Of water and earth,
And the transparent evidence of my life,
No longer does it irritate me,
No longer does it sparkle in this underwater sunshine.
How happy would you be,
If I were to rise?
How happy would you be,
If I appeared alive?
                             -from firefly

I had created a dream
Where everything was what it seemed
No underlying lies
No forming covert ties
I had created a dream
In which there was no time for sorrow or grief
Where a heart could not be stolen
Without any care
As if by a thief
I had created a dream
Where people were not bridges
Used to get to the other side
Where I knew
If something said
Was false or true
I had created a dream

I see birds sitting on chimneys
And telephone wires
And rooftops.
I wonder what it feels like to be up so high
Without an ounce of fear.
To be so close to everything beautiful that gets caught in the air
The stars and the moon and the sun
And have complete freedom
Peace
I want to borrow the raven's wings
The scarlet feathers from the robin
To disguise myself
To escape to the sky for a weekend.

I have always been terrified of birds
But I'm beginning to wonder why exactly that is.
Envy is the only conclusion I can come to.
I will never be that close to the stars until I become one
I will never fly through the clouds without being encased in a metal casket.

I want to fly with the birds.
They will lend me their feathers so I don't get cold
They will sit in their nests
Watching me
Like proud parents.
They will hope I never return.

The loss of their feathers is temporary
They will grow back, and when they do
Maybe the birds will think of me
Maybe they will continue to donate their wings to the landlocked girls with wanderlust.

no one startles a poet
when writing
because everyone knows
a pen is a
dangerous weapon
and when used correctly
can strike so deep
that even the poet
cannot undo its ink
as is it was tattoo'd
onto the fabric of existence
a sign of rebellion and pain
a battle wound for all to see
and to secretly judge
because we all know
when no ones around
is when the true colors
of a poem
come out.