Looking back with new
eyes I see the painful truth
I could not before

I have sunsets on my cheeks.
Blushing roses
and pinks.
I have flowers in my hair.
Blooming,
growing with me.
I am a wanderer
around my life.
Navigating
who I am
and who I want to be .
I wonder what
the seed of the maple knew
Before he was told
to be a tree.

there are so many of you
that i would love to sit down with;
maybe over a milkshake and a plate of fries;
and just talk.
i want to ask you about the boy that hurt you,
about the anger you feel deep inside
over a father who said he’d come back...
and then didn’t.
i want to run with you through pages of words and say
“oh that’s right, what a lovely metaphor.”
i want to see all your smiling faces and
thank each and every one of you for showing me kindness,
for saving my life.
i want to collaborate on novels of poetry
and laugh with you through the tears of our pasts.
so until we sip those milkshakes and eat those fries...
thank you, to
some of the most beautiful people i have never met.

He wrote line after line
Filling pages with words of ink
Storms alive in his eyes
Pen grasping paper, barely breathing from letter to letter

Ideas swarm his mind
Like sharks in an ocean
Preying on anything they can find
Growing from a sea filled with life

He couldn't sleep at night
Because the same sheep he counted
Told him stories ever beautiful
Stories that needed to be shared
Captured in the fleeting moments they're spoken
Or lost to slumber for eternity

As his journal filled, he was humbled
Thirst quenched by words that didn't get away
With his words archived securely
He could finally close his eyes