Will you remember me, Tanzania?
When my map of your curves is folded
And I see no more your mountain in my mind
Only your smile, straight as a line
On the day I flew away.

The wind travels far, Tanzania
And I must follow
Knowing you has left me hollow
And thus I search
But will you remember me?

The feel of my flip-flop footfalls on your face,
The sound of my laugh as your wind carried it away,
Will you remember how your thorns pierced me,
Pleading with me to stay?
Oh, will you remember me Tanzania?

We pause for a moment at the barbed wire fence,
Brief it burned
But coke-bottle circles in my cheeks will be my memento
Like your dark-eyed children and how, somehow they grow
Taller, darker, row on row.
Tell me you will miss me so
Oh Tanzania.

Will you remember how your sun kissed my forehead?
And how I tasted the feel of your words on my tongue?
How I stole your air to fill my lungs?
I stole as much as I could bear.
Small, dark hands braided my hair

Will you remember me, Tanzania?
As I cling to these landmarks and scars
Which fade from my mind,
Remember how I shook as we left each other behind
Remember how I wore your earth on my skin
Then let your rains wash me clean
How I felt your forest
Brown and green
You were not as you first seemed
But nor was I

Tanzania, Tanzania
What will you remember?
Here with your thoughts on mine,
I bless the legacy of your skyline.
Beautiful or ******
Oh, Tanzania
Who do you say that I am?

I cling to him,
Mascara stains his shirt
Like ink blotches on a left wrist.
Oh, how deeply, deeply
Sweetly –
Completely I feel this pain
Burrowed in the most hidden corner of my soul
Patched like cancer on the walls of my lungs
And Oh, how deeply, deeply
Sweetly –
Complete and utterly
Did we weep and wail through the darkness of that night
Tears cried by dull-ember fireside
This hurts more than we ever thought it could
Crocodile eyes ooze wet and hot
Figures entangle themselves in desperation
Words are few yet heart-wrenching
The strongest among us are bulldozed into flat implacability
Sorrow inhabits the cracks in my soul
Like chalk smeared across concrete.
Weep dear children,
Not ready to grow up
Weep dear friends,
For the depth of your love
Weep dear graduates
When morning comes you’ll have to leave
Weep for this country, that stained you and changed you
Weep for the institution, that burned you and bettered you
Weep for the people, who loved and supported you
Weep for your childhood, that carried you from birth to here
Weep, sweet alumni for all that you’re losing
For all the departure
For all the uncertainty
For all the promises that will be broken
And friendships that will not be kept up
Weep over the map
And curse the dividing waters
Weep my beloveds,
Deny yourselves no tears
Weep deeply
Weep deeply
Weep sweetly
Weep completely
Weep utterly and totally and whole-heartedly
Weep because this matters more than anything ever has
Weep because this has been the most beautiful and devine gift
Weep because you’ve been pierced to the core,
Debilitated by the most far-reaching love imaginable
And weep because
The world is expansive,
The oceans are deep and the lands are wide
The people are numerous and the cultures are diverse
The opportunities are endless
The combinations are infinite
Your life is long
And your future is full of immense possibility
But you will never have this again,
So weep.

Countdown
T-10 to the unknown
I built this city stone on stone
I worked my hands down to the bone
Overgrown
and unknown
Completely alone
and terrified
Pesticide
Rotten soul and acid eye
Crumble and forget
Lock the memories around your neck
Lock the prisoners underground
Lock your mouth into that frown

What now, is beautiful?

In the street the women march,
Glorify the marble arch.

Here we go and here we stay
Turtle smile and tremble
Oh how child you do resemble
A woman I once knew.
Oh how she destroyed me through and through
How she brought rot to my core
Your lips,
Her beautiful eyesore
All you are and so much more
Mirror-bound like a broken sword
Cling to the promise of the patient Lord.

In the street the women march
Glorify the marble arch

And sing sweetly
Let the music fill the air
Let the treble clefs fill the cracks in your bones
Let us melt and merge these thrones
Tender treason undertones.
Throw the darkness all away
or hide it behind the beating of your heart
First to finish, last to start
Slit your wrists and call it art
Scattered pieces torn apart

And here is where it all begins
The women, they march on every avenue
whispering the secrets of me and you
but if only they knew,
If only they really truly knew.
And what now, is beautiful?

Broken,
Shattered on the floor
Sharp shards and nothing more
Mind and Body
Ripped to shreds
Holding on by borrowed threads
Destroyed
Derailed
Demolished
Stripped of Poise and Polish
Stripped of it all
Wind me up and watch me fall
Watch me crack
and tear along my seams
Watch me spill my hopes and dreams
Watch as my heart nearly succeeds to fail
In its desperate attempt to beat
Sew me up with a rusty nail
And repeat.

"Here are your finest days", They say
As They ****** them in my arms.
Burn my skin as they fizzle and fade,
Stain my flesh a fresh new shade,
And moving right along.
Learn the words and change the song.

Push me down the black hole
and rate my form as I fall,
Grade the scream that I call,
Blank-out-of-a-hundred
It's protocol

And, "Those were your finest days", they say.
As They hand me their report
Dark, scholarly and short.
"Kid, that was a pretty good run,
But here,
Here is what you really should have done."

You and me
We’re coffee and tea
Waves in the sea
Two out of three
But, what to say?
What can I say?
What could I even say about us?
But let’s see
You and me
You the coffee
I the tea
Us the waves
The world the sea
Two sisters
Out of three
Thats you and me
Two completely different beverages
Both served in mugs
Cold as ice or warm as hugs
Side by side each morning moving slow as slugs
And ten years from now it will be
You and me
In a cafe somewhere
With coffee and tea
But for now I’ll miss you
Because now we’re waves in the sea
Kissing different shores
The same water makes up our cores
The same land covers the ocean floor
Tides force and tides free
Those waves in the sea
And thats you and me
And I love you
Because we’ve always been two out of three
The best of friends since my youngest age
You could record our quarrels on a single page
There’s not a thing about us that I would change
Leaves on the same tree
Two out of three
Thats you and me
This has been perfect
But now,
What to say?
What can I say?
What could I even say about us?
Except...
Coffee and tea
Waves in the sea
Two out of three
And there is nobody I would rather be
Than the person I am when it’s just you and me.

I have grown rather fond of being alone
I have found myself to be sublime company
I like to be secluded
In a dimly lit apartment
With a blanket
And a kettle
With tea
And a book
And my thoughts of course
And I am somewhat of a brilliant conversationalist
But occasionally there dawns a time
When I have run out of clever things to say
To myself
And I have finished every book
And drunken all the tea
And then there comes a moment
When I am significantly less fond of being alone
And I miss you