softened edges
broken bridges
rising tides and stained impressions

why is it so far to go
home to the arms of the places I know?

the hills that I've climbed
the valleys so low
the familiar signs
in the lights turned down low

here the sun hides
in the mountains at night
I just miss the light
in the break of the tides

find me in the middle
of the dark and light.
I'm in the center of the world,
with the core burning bright.
I'll dare you to come find me
beneath these layers of the night.
I live below the soot and soil,
you just might burn alive.

I miss the ink that will trace out my thoughts
eager but lost
in the scribbles and frost
the mess and the lines
that are always awry
locked into the lies
they fight with the tides

will I always be so scared to fall
into your arms and mind?
I've looked and left myself without
what I see within your eyes.

we'll wrap into each other's arms
waiting for the sun to shine.
the time is fleeting
and we're still finding
when our lives will coincide.

you were a grenadier
with your target on my soul

your mind stuck on my strength
while the fire filled me up

the smoke stung at my eyes
as you disappeared through dust

will the sunlight lead me home or will I stumble up the stairwell?
did the moonlight cloak our hips or did the steam outline our shadows?
do you see the hopes I see or just avoid the air I breathe?

I spoke about you the other day.

I wondered what I would say

if our paths crossed some way. 



Would I tell you of success?

Of the mountains I ran

and the smiles I've shared,

how my back bends with the light,

every morning and night?



Or would I reveal 
how deeply I feel,

how I can crumble and crack

with the weight of our past?



How no other soul 
will fit into the mold

you've carved in my heart 

even while we're apart.



How the years will still pass, 

I'll kick and I'll cry,

I'll break and I'll fall, 

but only inside.

rolling hills and winding rivers
cooling clouds and calming winters
burning trees and falling embers

he knew he would win -
finding his catch,
he paused to reel her in.

a beautiful prize,
though on the inside
she was merely bones and sand.

thrown into the sea
she was let go.
set off to lure the next lonely soul
to set her free.

draw me out of your moleskine,
I'll come alive that way.
I can be the one you want,
if not then on the pages I will stay.

you can dress me how you like,
just make sure you use pen.
you see, there's nothing worse
than uncertainty in men.

thread me through your needle,
I'll be the one you call.
I can sew up all your wounds
if you break a seam or fall.

don't take the skill for granted,
there's not many as strong as me
that will let you bend and stretch,
allow you to feel free.

this is only for me,
the sense of relief
as you wrap around my knees.

Twist up the spout that’s draining
into the gutter.
Cover the cracks,
Bloom into summer.

I carried my head on a spit,
I saw my beauty til my head got dizzy
and I made it back alive.

Crates of fruit from names of colors,
Strewn about like our past lovers.
Left alone and peeled apart,
Pulp fills the drain but leaves the heart.

The moon’s controlling the tides
And the minds
Of the faltering youth.
Leading them outside,
Pulled by the draw of a glow so new.
Hidden in the trees,
Protected by the bees
and their sweet, sweet treasure.

What are you trying to find, empty girl?
The space beneath your soul
Is getting filled from below.
No longer delicate and pure
You’ve lost your ability to discern
The hunger from the yearn.

find me on the roof,
the gazebo of our past.
fallen from the sky and
climbing up the rugged mast.
spinning slowly round and
dreaming you'll be found,
waiting for the future,
or at least ‘til you come down.

talk to me, willow tree
tell me of the life you lead.
does the wind cool you down
when your leaves fall to the ground,
or do you like the sense of relief?

I walked to the edge of the river,
dipped my hand in and
felt the cool air hit my chilled fingertips.

I knew no one had been here before,
practicing my ritual of solitude,
saying goodbye to yesterdays faults.

Standing on the edge of the river,
somewhere between land and water.

looking for familiar shapes
in the silhouettes,
as we watch the sun go down.

we might only be replacing
past lovers with another,
but I'll take it for now.

tracing the curves with delicate touch,
watching them turn into bone,
afraid to point it out.

He'll think of her-
the graceful twists
her body would bend.
the passion of souls intertwined,
they would mold together,
young and permanent.

She'll dream of him-
the safe harbor
of his open arms,
curled within the curves of his spine.
close enough to smell the pine
of the nearby forest.

How long will it last?
they would ask
one another as the sun slowly rose.
as long as the leaves will fall,
and the rivers will flow
was their answer.

you're blossoming off the branches,
but still withering with the leaves.

I want to remember all the days that will come,
the dark and the light,
the sweat and the sun.

I lie underneath the swaying trees,
fall beneath the stinging bees,
you'll hear me in the blowing breeze.

I lost myself in someone else.
unlike the losing of character,
I feel more like myself.

connect with my hand,
crawl through my wrist
into my bones,
my veins, and my hips.

wrap around my finger,
you know I'll linger
around the bend.

sing with me my siren song,
follow me from dusk til dawn.

the things we convince ourselves
have such potential
to harm or hinder.
sparkle me up,
I'll splinter like tinder.

memorize my memories,
remember my mortality.

your head's been in the clouds, little one.
ignorance may be bliss,
but bliss isn't always fun.

spread your roots down
before the snow comes around
and takes your ambition away.

find the symmetry in the snow
lining the windows as the storm passes by.
fog up the lenses, as they try to document the sky
and its peculiar patterns.

let the heat fill the room,
bend the pictures off the wall,
they warp and twist and fade,
like leaves at the start of fall.

I'm stuck in your web,
filtered out like a fire so red.
let me pass through
and I'll follow you
into the land you've led.

float in the space,
blend with the tide.
come up for air,
make sure you're alive.

like a fish out of water,
I'm swallowing up the sand.

shine me off once you wear me down.
I'm used to the place between you and the ground.
My soul is bare, I come in a pair,
and you might just think I'll never be found.

hanging from the ferris wheel,
swinging in a cage blown by the westerly winds.
looking at the ground below,
seeing how the lights, they glow.
hold onto me as we descend back down,
plant our feet on the traveled ground,
and hope, that we'll be carried up again.

give me beauty without weight,
polish me with sand.
I want to be the spark that lights the day,
something intended but unplanned.

give me a mirror that reflects
only what I want to see.
I need to feel sufficient,
I need to be set free.

give me only these two things,
the need for comfort and control.
I'll promise that this world
will never seem more whole.

they seem to grow slowly
until you see the photographs.
moments of time passed.
rewound through a lens,
hidden behind glass.
when we're paused
a vision is more clear,
but no one lives that way,
my dear.

ring by ring they count-
pausing at the middle,
and winding back out.
scratching at the bark,
chopping away the limbs,
peeling apart the leaves,
frailty never wins.
it's a shame they didn't know,
you have to **** it before that will show.

skyscrapers make the clouds cry.
they speckle their windows,
darkening the view that was promised.

window washers risk themselves
high above the puddled ground,
wiping away the sky's autograph.

too bad they didn't check the forecast-
could've saved themselves a trip back.

some find comfort in the fullness of the moon,
for others this body seems to rise too soon.

I wonder what I would find if I connected
all my freckles and moles.
I'd go number by number,
until there was a web of ink woven up and down my body-
across my back, down to my belly and legs,
up to my palms and back to my shoulders.
I bet it would be beautiful somewhere.

people come together and move apart
like the sand that lines the ocean.
built into castles,
broken down by a careless step,
washed back to sea.

I used to play the cloud game in the stucco of my bedroom walls.
My eyes confined to the few feet surrounding my pillow,
finding hippos and continents before I drifted off to sleep,
always comforted they would be there when I woke.
If you ask me to find them now,
all I'll see are nail holes.

eating up the buildings,
crawling up the corners
to cover the signs of the city.
enacting their revenge
on the cement coating their soil.