You knocked
and I opened so quickly
it was almost as if I were expecting you

You smiled
and it was the only time
I could control my mind whilst losing it

You kissed
and blank was the world
of past and future (it was only you and now)

You left
and what could I do but write
this poem about so little happiness in

man’s life

Black, White, Yellow, or Brown the skin color matters not. Red haired, Blonde, or Brown hair one thing does not care. Tall, short, skinny or fat it bears no malice. In life there is no true equality, for we are all human and will always have a bias. Only in death is there equality. Only then are we all the same. Though we might be born to wealth or poverty, all of us die equally. The last act of the play of our life may be dramatic, or it may be peaceful but it is our end just the same. Once we draw our last breath, our part is done in this life. What comes after is open to interpretation, but in this one thing, equality is achieved. We are all mortal and we will all die.

Poverty is not mutually exclusive to one place. Want and despair are not specific to one race. Ignorance is not limited to one group. Many of these things we share as people. When one group prospers, another lacks. When one person commits senseless violence, many people are hurt beyond the intended victim. We are blinded by ideology and are limited by our own selfishness. On a world so full of diverse life, we are all of one kind, that is human kind.

Lonely, like the ancient ocean
flooding fast upon the sand

past a fading line of footprints,
ankle deep in surf she stands

casting wishes on the water
like a sprinkling of snow,

light they land but moments after,
melt into the waves, and go..

Remember the days
When beers and warm nights were enough
Where I carried my shoes on the walk home
And I lied to a good man
By letting him think
No one else had been in my bed
The night before him

Three years later it’s easy to see
The memory play out like it’s on TV
I told myself then that it’s not a lie
We just weren’t talking about it
I told myself I have no loyalties

I guess I was right

It was August and the air in the attic where I lived
Just felt like summer – moist, suffocating
Hard to sleep in – painful to wake up
Strange smells clung to my sheets
Deep purple – My mother bought them

I ate breakfast with him
He paid – a gentleman
Even on nights when I was
too drunk
too tired
too uninterested
To let him touch me

In the back of my mind … somewhere …
I worried about when he’d ask me
To be his girlfriend
I worried about when I would have
To make it unofficial

But in the thick humidity of that summer
Our apathy was enough to keep the parties going all night

And every morning when the sun blared through
My tiny, attic window, waking me
And drying on the sweat that reeked of Budweiser
Reminding me subtly – that it might time
To grow the **** up
To have the tough talk
To learn the art of saying no

I made plans for later that night

Jealousy is a beast eating at us all -
No amount of preparation, warning, level headedness
Can ready the mind for the heart's selfish paranoia

A feeling that can make a happy woman turn bitter
And a proud man resort to petty games of children

What's a sweet, young girl to do?
When the beast of nightmarish imagination
Takes a bite out of her once practical mind

She can put up a fight
Though it may not be worth it
Or let the monster take hold
Get on her knees, smile and take it

Imagine them together, jealousy says
Images beyond the power of repression
Images she's created herself in the back corner
Of her filthy, shameful mind.

Imagine what they did.

That bad dream of a human being
That one that you despise
Who caused you so much pain
The hurt pulsating behind you eyes

That shadow behind a fragmented smile
That terrorizes you,
From the hidden pockets in your mind
For days, for months, for years ...

Thank her, for she's your greatest muse