I will find other worlds
outside of this bubble
that I live in. This
"security bubble,"
this "incubator"
until my parents finally decide
to let me experience something
on my own without being a tourist.

To travel to India, South America and wherever I want.
Mom and Dad, I guarantee you that
I won't come back skinny and gaunt.

"why do you talk so much"
"I have so much to share"
and maybe I've been talking so much
that I forgot how to listen-
because other people,
they have 'so much to share' too.

When you see her cry
     you get a rag,
a gentle delicate cloth.
                                        Lovingly grasp her hand
                                               and dab its tip;
                                       dry each tear as they come.
                                                           ­                               And ask each drop
                                                            ­                                   why it'd leave
                                                           ­                               such beautiful eyes.

  If she wishes
to be in the sky,
  tell her to go.
                              Take the sun ransom,
                              and replace its shining
                                    with her own.
                                                            ­          So you can see her every morning
                                                         ­                          and wish for her
                                                                ­                  return each night.

When you see her scars
  both visible and non-
    touch each gently.
                                             And remind her
                                       that each and every hurt
                                            she has survived,
                                                       ­                                 has only made her
                                                                ­                   that much more unique;
                                                         ­                              that much stronger.

  Show her that she
  is a special person
and is worthy of love.
                                     That she deserves the love
                                            she fears to give...
                                            show her so that
                                                            ­                     one day after you're gone
                                                            ­                      she can find the strength
                                                                ­                    to go on without you.

    Tell her that while
she might not be a goddess
far above worldly desires,
                                          that she is amazing,
                                         for just being herself
                                    for being that beautiful girl
                                                            ­                   who thinks herself damaged
                                                         ­                         when in truth she's just
                                                            ­                    a different kind of beautiful.

   And finally, love her.
  Like a boy loves a girl
Till she finally remembers
                                            that that's what she is:
                                          not a scar, not a goddess,
                                             not a star. But a girl.
                                                           ­                         That deserves to be loved.

I am but a shell
What's inside you cannot tell
I am simply ordinary
Inner beauty quite contrary
To the previous remark
You view me as quote "stark"
In my mind you're bleak and dreary
Still I believe within you deary
Is an acute flicker of light
Just waiting to ignite
A thousand possibilities
Across the endless seven seas
If only you could invision
A world outside the television
A place within yourself
Imagination on the shelf
Dust it off and change perspectives
See how another being lives
Not in your head but in theirs
Though you'll grow tired climbing stairs
Reaching for the tip top of perfection
Praying for some form of protection
Against the vibrance within the soul
Colored red, orange, blue, pink, gold
But see no one out there knows
That inside us all it glows
We want our true colors out
Yet withold them with such doubt
Yes, I am but a shell.
But, tell me...aren't you as well?

Anger,
as black as a hook,
overtakes me.
Each day,
each ****
took, at 8:00 A.M., a baby
and sauteed him for breakfast
in his frying pan.

And death looks on with a casual eye
and picks at the dirt under his fingernail.

Man is evil,
I say aloud.
Man is a flower
that should be burnt,
I say aloud.
Man
is a bird full of mud,
I say aloud.

And death looks on with a casual eye
and scratches his ****.

Man with his small pink toes,
with his miraculous fingers
is not a temple
but an outhouse,
I say aloud.
Let man never again raise his teacup.
Let man never again write a book.
Let man never again put on his shoe.
Let man never again raise his eyes,
on a soft July night.
Never. Never. Never. Never. Never.
I say those things aloud.

The lights
Are going
Out.
Slow but sure.
My life is a city
My body
Is a city
Traffic stops and starts
Pumping blurred light through my veins
Webs of
Streets
My bones
Are twinkling skyscrapers
My skyline
Jagged
But blazing neon.
I stand at the center
Of a city
Spread like a galaxy on the night-black earth
But
The lights
Are going
Out.
The day you turned away
The outskirts of my life
Began to dim
Blink
Blink
Blink
Somebody's throwing switches
In a lonely tower
Outside of town
And darkness eats the map
From the outside
In
First the spattering of streetlights on the edges
Goes dark
And then
The outskirts
Convenience stores and billboards
Bridges
Then the boroughs
One by one
Blink
Blink
Blink
It's coming for me
And I see it.
I stand at the center of a dying
Constellation
Of a city
Under siege
I stand and watch the lights go out
Far away
Closer
Closer
Closer
Street by street
Building by building
Day by day
The lights
Are going
Out
And I
Have never been scared
Of the dark
But this
This is new
This is blackness growing steady
Street by street
Between me
And you
Between me
And everyone I've ever met
And I
Am
Afraid
Of that
Dark,
Scared like a child
And
I'm not sure what to do
Because
The lights
Are going
Out.