Dear C,
For the last week
I've been feeling down
I didn't believe anything
And no conclusions could be found
And all I could think
is " what if life has no meaning?
what if the universe just wastes space?
what's the meaning of the human race?"

But somehow
inexplicably
listening to you rant on the bus home
about how your Harvard-trained substitute
"Can't ******* teach"
somehow
unexplainably
made my day
a little brighter
and pushed the system in my mind out
like the month-long rainstorm that just ended yesterday
I guess listening to someone vent
when you feel pent up
can make you feel a little more free

so thank you

Life is like
A buret of acid
In a high school lab

It slowly drips away, imperceptibly at first
But then it's suddenly gone

Sometimes, a careless student
Will unhinge the stopcock completely
And the life will pour out quickly

Sometimes, someone will be clumsy
And knock the buret from the stand
Breaking it in the middle
And the life will drain out
All at once
Spattering all over the counter

And in the end
Wether the reaction was magnificent
Or mundane
Those around the buret will take note
Write up their lab reports
And the buret will be one of the many
Random memories
Of a class and year
That passed too quickly

How can I show you
that this is what Germany
Was like in '35?

Unwind my body
Like a vivisection
And see if you can find
The real me

Unwind the code
Like pulling a string from cloth
And see if you can find
Humanity's reason

"Ok, honey, you look
Like a racoon
You've got to study for chemistry
You're only getting a B+
And how many times
Do I have to tell you
To wash the dishes?
Bring in the trash cans
Am I the only one
With a brain in this house?"
"Bu-"       "ah, that's one."
"But mom-"       "ah, that's two
Don't argue with me
I don't want to hear it
If course you're right
And I'm wrong
Whatever. Go to hell"

                                 Ok, first things first
                                I like how this looks
                               I've studied so much
                      My brain doesn't register
                     The information anymore
                And yeah, I'm a science geek
              But a B+ and the rest A's in an
                                    All honors lineup
      Is still pretty good for a sophmore
      And I was just going to wash them
If you'd given me five **** minutes
            And hey, we're both honor roll
                         Honors classes students
               So isn't that something to our intelligence?
                And hey, give me fourty-give seconds to explain, you don't even have to listen
          You could zone out for all I care
                   But if you don't want to be. interrupted
                               Then don't interrupt
                   If you don't want to hear it
                         Fine, listen to the HGTV
And honestly you seem to be the one
             Who never wants to be wrong
   So fine. At least the devil gives you a chance to speak.
      And you wonder why I talk to dad more.

She has the same taste in music as me
We have a similar fashion sense
We both love science, orchestra, and doodling
We're both insane
We both love anime
There is a mutual possibility of blackmail
We tell each other everything
We like the same youtubers
We both don't always get along with our moms
We both had weird childhoods
We're the perfect lab partners
We love our Science Olympiad team
We both have family in other countries
We both sometimes resent the fact that our dads married our moms

What more must I show you?
You don't even listen
Listen and you might understand
Understand why I'm upset
Upset and confused, that's all
That's all your words are making me

"You know, I don't think you have
The right
To be angry with me right now."

Maybe I am being irrational
Maybe I am stubborn and a little begrudging
Maybe I am silly
Hormonal
And stupid
but I have the right
*to feel whatever emotion I want to

What do you see?
What do you think of me?
Honors student, violinist
Maybe a future scientist
You'd never guess
When we'd first meet
That the girl I am
Is more than the one you greet
Get to know me
And you might see
The true person beneath
The apearance bequeathed

I keep telling myself to wait
Wait for another two years
Years have passed yet little has
Has anything changed at all?
All of my life has turned upside down
Down the line will I regret this?
This is who I want to be now
Now I must wait to be independent
Independent and free and myself
Myself, personally, I'm just confused
Confused about who I am
*Am I what I should be?

The tryant rises over the city
The crowd's minds in wiped obedience
The free-people's prince flees swiftly
His savior anonymously leads him in silence

The elder, masked and cloaked, leads,
Thorns following around him,
the child Prince through the weeds
To hiding on the cliff's rim

Twelve years in the mountain
A youthful wolf looks over the river
Thinking he surely would've been slain
Had the king of thorns been any less swifter

I wake up early
the tropical squall outside
turns the beach blue-grey

outside our hotel
the bay looks rather bizarre
so quiet and still

I get dressed quickly
we pack our bags just as fast
glancing at the paper

we check out quickly
before realizing that we
still had three hours left

so we drive downtown
past the tropical art deco
to get some breakfast

two empanadas
tea for me, coffee for you
watching the local news

there's not really anywhere
where we can go for an hour
and be back in time

so you just drive 'round
I guess this seems strange because
It's usually busy

Streets filled with tourists
spring breakers and the partiers
are now near silent

a wet, grey Sunday
the streets no longer bustling
we wait to meet mom

Don't Tell me I'm too young
That I'm just a hormonal teen
Who will look back on this moment
And admit I was being ridiculous
Maybe, twenty years from now
I will look back and laugh

But right now
Regardless of my lack of adult memories
Or the biological chemicals pumping through my veins
What I feel now
Is very real to me

When you say I'm too young
You treat me like a pet
Incapable of understanding human things
Maybe I do think very differently
Than an adult
But regardless
I'm still a person
Just like you

Please try and remember
How you felt
When you were my age
Without filtering your memories

You were once my age
And, in turn
Someday I will be your age
The teenagers of today
Are the actors
Scientists
musicians
Singers
Authors
Presidents
Farmers
Bankers
­Teachers
And parents
Of the future
The future that you fantasize about
And say will be amazing and advanced
With bizzare, yet wonderful, futuristic languages, fashions, and ideas

Yet when you see the people
Who will, in the next few years,
Being about the sci-fi era
You call our fashions ridiculous
You call our slang sloppy
And when we try to share our new ideas
You call us crazy
You tell us we're too young to know enough
To have valid ideas

But maybe, this world needs a generation
With a fresh mind and view
people who have
Less preconceived notions
To overcome

So please,
Spare me the talk
That reveals only how little you know about us

Don't tell me I'm too young
To know who I am
And what I want
Just try and remember
That your generation
The one who currently runs the world
That you were once my age, too

Wind in my hair
I stretch my legs
Smell food in the air
count the lamppost pegs
a breezy, misty morning
boys playing ball
seagulls give storm warnings
we've got fourteen hours in all
play fights in the lot
before the night's coaches
the buffet's only got
moments before the crowd encroaches
only minutes before the breakfast buffet
and a tour of the city later today

People often speak
Of mankind and nature
As two separate things

But the way I see it
We are not opposites
But rather complimentary colors in the wheel

People often talk of natural beauty
Or man-made art
But I find it more beautiful
When the two mix

picture this:
The sun is rising over a marsh
Against the vibrant hues lies the silhouette
Of a shuttle on the launch pad
Sleek, modern, impressive
But yet, not intrusive
Rather, complimentary in its juxtaposition
And its coexistence

People act as though wilderness and civilization
Can't coexist, as if they are at war
I'm fact, we both need each othe
And through our shared past and planet
We are one and the same

There once we're two princess
Fire and Ice
And in one another
They found their vice
And they decided
As goes the lore
To see which side
Would win a two-person war
So they met in the city
Right on the bay
And with a bow, crouch, and lunge
They started the day
They began in the capital
A grand skyscraper
By the end of the fight
There was only a crater
The ground quakes and split
So Fire jumped in
With her use of the magma
She was sure she would win
Then Ice jumped back
And in her dismay
Slipped into the waters
Of the capitol bay
She had an idea
Right then, very quick
She cooled down the bay
Into ice thirteen feet thick
And as the magma-ice storm
Raged on on that beach
The city and earth
Started to breach
By the end of the fight
Neither princess prevailed
No victory was won
No winner was hailed
The city was destroyed
And the bay, too
The fire, ice, and rubble
Left only a gravelly slough
The princesses both died
Of exaustion that night
For they thought the other's end
Proved their might
But when white meets black
It mixes in grey
Much like the fire and ice
And the water that day
For when two equal forces
Opposing collide
No one prevails
There are left no sides
Yin-yang turns to grey
When the world collides

You know
This would actually be
Kind of a fun game
If I hadn't already run a mile and a half
If I actually liked sports
And if I weren't afraid of being decapitated
By an airborne soccer ball

"don't grow up too fast
you still have time
to be a child"
you say to me

The difference between us
is that you wish to be a child
whereas I
never want to be one again

your childhood
was playing foursquare
and lava monster
and avoiding the cheese-touch
with your three best friends

my childhood
was being kept out of foursquare
ignored by the lava monster
and being the untouchable object
in my class's game of "Beth-touch"

your childhood
was a playful push and poke
with your classmates

my childhood
was getting my front tooth chipped
and being pushed off of the monkey bars

your childhood
was seeing your parents argue
then make up

my childhood
was hearing shouting upstairs
and seeing my parents sitting apart silently for hours afterward

your childhood
was hoping your mother's flu got better

my childhood
was my mom falling and twisting her arm
on the way to a meeting with the principal
hard enough that her hand still isn't the same size

your childhood
was learning weird new things
through rumors, friends, and what you could find

my childhood
was being left in the dark
on all but the basics

your childhood
was fun elementary school trends
like lunchables, messenger bags, and chocolate calculators

my childhood
was having a different style
and having no common interests with the other kids

your childhood
was a playful time of learning
that you wish to return to

my childhood
was the role of the playground's pariah
and I'm never going back

In Poland, a young Jewish girl plays with a ball near her house
not seeing the Gestapo riding in on trucks

In Japan, a boy plays with a butterfly-shaped kite
not seeing the impending fallout over the city center

In Nanking, a girl plays dress-up with her sister's old dress
not seeing the army outside of the city

In Hawaii, a boy runs along the beach, jumping in and out of the waves
not seeing the bombers over the nearby harbor

In Ethiopia, a girl and her mother walk home from a friend's house
not seeing the yellow-green cloud advancing

In London, a boy races his friends through the streets
Not seeing the bombers overhead

In Vietnam, a girl looks over her family's farm
Not seeing the troops in the jungle

In Syria, a girl and her older sister walk to get water
Not seeing the fighters moving in

Somwhere in this world, a child is living happily
Not seeing the terrible change ahead.

Who are you to decide
Who I talk to
What I can watch
What I can read
What I can see
What I listen to
What I like

Who are you to decide
Who my friends are
How I talk to people
Where my relationship goes
What I believe in
When my feelings are real
Which of my memories are true

who are you
*to dictate me

words
are something
we learn
at a young age
what those around us say
                becomes what we say
but words
are so much more
than our bodies
vibrating air
words tell the world
what our brain is thinking
the words we hear
              become parts of our thoughts
the words that we use
              show the world who we are
where we're from
               and what we want to show others
words written down
carry our thoughts across and through
space and time
a pen and ink
can and have
saved lives
started wars
broken hearts
and blown minds

A word of encouragement
Can nourish a man more
Than any supplement
                              A word of abuse
                              Can wound a man
           To where medicine is of no use
A word of simple compliance
Blinds the mind
                And a few of fierce rebellion
                              Become a battle cry
Maybe a few bad poems
Are less than art
But a brain releasing a cyclone into paper
Had to be a start
Maybe one day
I can find my part (s)
Until then, my mind
Wanders alongside my heart (s)
But these words
Though so little
Are only my start

As yesterday came to an end
I thought I had some time to spend
Then i opened my plans
To see where I stand
I'm booked until April's month ends

firefly
glow bright, glow bright
chase out the shadows
of the night
during the day
you hide away
to another
place to stay
firefly glow bright
tonight
for fear of the dark
cast out your light
but lest the sparrow
find you by day
by sunrise you
must run away
firefly
glow bright, glow bright
chase out the shadows
of the night
during the day
you hide away
in another
place you'll stay
firefly, just sparkle
and shine
you'll find others
of your kind
for at night only
they come out, too
hidden by dark
plainly in view
alone by day
they run away
lest the sparrow
come their way
in the night
they come together
and shine bright
now and forever
firefly
glow bright, glow bright
chase out the shadows
of the night
during the day
you hide away
but hold on for better
to come your way

I imagine this
feels somewhat like flying away
over a dark plane

dear evolution
normally I really like your work
*but today I hate you.

it's not the bustling city
with its massive modernity
and ever present life.
it's not the mountains
with their wild, untamed nature
and their way of making towns look small.
but something stands to be said
for the way the highways curve
into a mall complex
designed to look pleasing,
And for the way millions of cars
and parents and children
manage to fit together like a puzzle
so one can drop her youngest off
run errands with her eldest
and be home in time for her favorite evening programs.

we hate
we love
we wage war
we make peace
we commit ******
we save lives
we ignore issues
we find answers to our problems
we commit genocide
we save nations
we feel
we go numb
we enslave others
we free each other
we lie blatantly
we reveal the truth
we sneak around
we march right in
we run in fear
we stand up and fight
we are thoughtless
we're analytical
we are intelligent
we're emotional
we can all hurt
and we can all heal.
we are humanity.