I am the outlier
Feather wearer
Tired child of
The trial of tears

The back lashed
For being black

Brother of the
Burning Japanese
At Nagasaki

Open minded
And empathetic
The broken hearted

Lesbian, bisexual
Trans, homosexual
Dejected, rejected
And denied
Basic human rights

I am the immigrant
Who went
Through hell
To get here
To be demonized

I am flesh of your flesh
Blood of your blood
Lonely and struggling
Begging for mercy
And a little human decency

What for you need a pen that writes black?
The man at the counter shot back
What has the blue done to offend you?

Look up the firmament
Over there the kingfisher
Once I had been to the sea
She was blue
Surely you prefer over black
A blue saree for her
So many men have staked their life
For the blue eyes of women

And then as if volleying the winning goal

Why not color all your wishes with blue
To paint the world blue-wish?

As I turned to walk away
My eyes caught the writing on his wall..

Black ink for the black heart
For the fool and the dull
Blue for the man of art
With matter in the skull

I had come to the wrong shop.

Sometimes...
The prize isn't worth the fight.
The fight isn't worth the risk.
And the risk isn't worth the possibilities.

I don't know
When she's coming back
Or when we'll be
A family
Or when the next earthquake
Will shake our house
As violently as
His voice did when
They fought.

I don't know
When he's coming back
Or when she'll be
In love again
Or when this hurricane
Will finally destroy
Every part of us
Until there's absolutely
Nothing left.

I don't know
When we'll be back
Or if we ever will be
But I do know
That my mother
Doesn't wear her
Wedding rings
Anymore.

I don’t know what to take seriously
It seems it is only how I feel anymore
Anymore
How I feel anymore

I’ve passed the world by
Watching for the smiling grievers
Just like me
Trapped by choices made long ago

The way a sad man can laugh
Is just another miracle of life

Hopping, stone to stone
The distance widening each time
The place to stand ever smaller
As long as my feet are dry
I will be held together by these small joys

I think I have been blinded somehow
It seems I’ve lost my way
My way
I’ve lost my way

I don’t have to make myself write something
That is where I live now
Not in a closet
Not in the jungle
I don’t have to prove that to you

I wonder about someone who takes life literally
With a sword in their hand, dividing life before them
I’ve felt the blade, ****** deeply
And they told me it was God saving me
Still, I continue on

I am subdued not by sadness but by outrage
I am subdued not by outrage but by sadness
Hopping, stone to stone
Carefully placed before me
An old man cannot survive without his dignity

I think I’ve not prepared myself for this
The greatest challenge of a life
My life
The greatest challenge of my life

Inside the mind I find how
Daunting this thing called love is.
It turned night into day and day into night causing dissolute,
derooting my mind, beauty,that was once intertwined like a grape and a vine inside wine in one cup.
Love is a single drop of poison and by that of one sip, you tip,
leaving behind your dreams when you fall,
a scar upon the conscious.

Haunting this thing called love is.
It's frightening but we all jump in with no parachute.
Free Falling deeply into the dark void of truth.
Untie the noose
Lo-ve is together.
What awaits on the other side is us floating as Light as a Feather.
Clearing through, like the sky after Nasty weather.
Quick like lightening this thing called love is.
One minute you're dancing through life and out of nowhere you run out. Of the energy that use to pour out
All of a sudden you begin to feel doubt
With no place to go, WILL, can you ever get out,
there WILL be no escape
for the arms you break are the very arms holding you up today
They WILL not crush you
They just want to hug you
An expression that deserves a day
through all the anxiety
Expectations from society
My reactions to an action
You're not the one, you're the  everything
The zero

ARE YOU READY?