Sometimes your heart needs to be broken
So you can see what's underneath,
To the flicker and flame of your soul
That you've always been destined to meet.

Sometimes your spirit shines brighter
Through the glimmering light of your tears,
And when you arrive at the end of it all
Love will outshine the darkest of years

the house next door makes me
sad.
both man and wife rise early and
go to work.
they arrive home in early evening.
they have a young boy and a girl.
by 9 p.m. all the lights in the house
are out.
the next morning both man and
wife rise early again and go to
work.
they return in early evening.
By 9 p.m. all the lights are
out.

the house next door makes me
sad.
the people are nice people, I
like them.

but I feel them drowning.
and I can't save them.

they are surviving.
they are not
homeless.

but the price is
terrible.

sometimes during the day
I will look at the house
and the house will look at
me
and the house will
weep, yes, it does, I
feel it.

If you look back can you remember
Can you remember what it was like
When you looked out over the ocean
And it looked like more than a compilation of questions
Can you remember when we could see past the horizon
And the air in our lungs tasted fresh
Can you remember when promises were like death sentences
When secrets were ties stronger than blood
If this is growing up I’ll keep holding my breath
Can you remember when guardian angels
Were nothing more than a nightlight
And the sound of the tv downstairs
Can you remember when it started to rain
But we didn’t associate it with dreams covering 654 miles
It was the key to the closet where we hid happiness
Can you remember what its like to measure time in minutes
And not in paychecks or homework assignments
Can you remember the exact moment when we lost ourselves
Living our lives to satisfy people we’ll never meet
*~W.C.

I'm the ocean but you're the sea
You're what flows inside of me
A harmonious flow
From dusk till dawn
Our love can be violent
Or slow and calm
A world above us
Or a world below
A sort of fullness
We overflow

21 years or older but I asked to use the bathroom first.
Then I slip in when the bouncer isn't looking.
Naked bodies hanging on poles.
Men, smoke, 90's rap music.
On the stage, they bend backwards like dogs.
Dogs staring back, mirroring the position
and her self - esteem.
A woman approaches two men at the table in front of me.
Her fishnet wrap shows she's naked.
*******, grinding, tossing hair.
Some slimy guys buy us drinks from a table a distance away.
Dorena gulps next to me.
I leave mine alone.
Absorbed into this vision because I have to immerse
myself in this because I must write.
I need to tell people that her hand slapped her ******
like it did something wrong.
She made her hand do that because that man
was giving her dollars as I watched them slide off her back,
her legs; the sides of them.
She gave his friend a dance and a magic trick.
Setting fire to matchsticks she placed on her ******* and her ****.
He blew the flame away.
The dollars blew to the ground
and after her performance she went on her knees,
and picked up the remains.
Her dress, the money, her composure.
Afterward, she lit up a Capri, the type of cigarette
I craved all night.
I bummed one off her and she fled out of sight.