On hot summer days that strech ouy like this
Bird and bug song harmonized in the air
Cool water splashing with the sound of kids
Hearts start to be wild and do as wished
Leafed breezes blow away all hardened care
Creatures come from the dens in which they hid
As stars draw in like a smooth panther fur
And future folds out, bright and unsure
Music calls out in the dead of night
As all come out to camp, dance, chat, and play
We try our bravado and our own fright
As summer nights flow into the dog days

If you've ever woken up in the dead of night
Feeling like you had to scream and howl
And you frantically start to gasp and write
Knowing you need to get everything out
Only to try and show it to the world the next day
And run when someone looks near you
Well, then you know just how my day
Looks if seen from my view

If you've ever written lyrics for all
To see, posting work anonymously
Feeling like you could swim over falls
And live your life courageously
And then you awake in the late evening
Because it's either the world's end or a branch on a pane
I don't have to explain exactly what I'm meaning
Because you and I feel the same

If you've ever known you're going mad
Even though you try to deny it
And then you wonder if it's actually bad
Later, you actually know it
But you don't dare to say anything
Because it will destroy your path and dreams
Then, I think you'll understand
Just what the hell I mean

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul*
It read, a dove caught and crucified
Over two pages whole

Sirens yip and bark
Like frightened gazelles on a
Asphalt savanna

Children and teens howl
And laugh at games and parties
Like hyena packs

Cars and trucks rumble
Like lions lounging in the
Hot summer sunshine

Parents chatter in
The shade of oak trees, like a
Calm herd of zebras

Smoke rises in air
And all gather to the grill
Like a water hole

Back in the old days
We saw oceans and mountains
As the total end
Peoples and lands were cut off
Over a blue plain
Until brave explorers came
And made a new way
So now, we simply travel
From land to land with
With the ease of a dolphin's stroke

So I truly hope
That one day, the cosmos will
Be as the sea is
For we too once thought
That the sea was an impase
So perhaps space flight
Will be like island hopping

Some people look down upon them
Saying they have nothing good within
But I see it differently
In markups, I see
The person I was, am, and could've been

The world is not only
The shining right light of white
And the depraved dark depths of black

I won't even go on
About the moral grey shades in between
Mottled like a city pigeon's tail feathers

Because there are
Royal eruditious blues
Mischievous swirled jades
Passionate scarlets
Playful tangarine oranges
Inoccent pastel yellows
Regal deep reds
Mysterious deep purples
Curious robin egg blues
Righteous yellow oranges
Tranquil summer greens
Bubbly social pinks
Patient shades of indigo
Cautious neon colors
Pure-hearted golds
Clear minded silvers
And ultraviolets of feelings yet to be defined

And if I'm looking at the world
I want to see it in full spectrum

When it comes to my family and friends
I freak out when they get near my violin
But if it were a conductor or music student
Or a music professor most prudent
I'd let them throw it halfway across Washington

People say fight club couldn't exist
That fighting like that wouldn't go missed
But I have contrary evidence, for those who seek
The second week of school has been nicknamed fight week

For all of my coastie dad's wisdom
My summers spent learning to sail
My affinity for swimming since I was three
The countless snorkeling trips
The hours spent in canoes and kayaks
The trips paddle boarding and whitewater rafting
Somehow
I'm still petrified
By the rushing numbered current
Of a digital stream

Like a wolf in the night
Or a deer in it's flight
Or a swallow on favoring winds
Travel swift to the end
Make new choices to send
To the spirits that lurk within

And though we are young
Stories quickly begun
Whirling around the windowless compound
So some block it out
Some start to pout
And some go insane when no one's around

So come out in the day
In this place cast away
Do not believe long held lies
Then finally, we'll see
Between you and me
What the truth is in the gentry's eyes

I wonder what the dinosaurs thought
When the asteroid fell and wrought
Destruction and chaos
For fate may befall us
In a century, we too could be caught

Do you ever drive
By a city or town in the dead of night
And wonder
About the people within?

How many are in debt from school?
How many have gone to bed with the love of their life?
How many are trying to hide family troubles behind locked doors?
Is the world's next Einstein in there?
Hollywood's next rising star?
How many go to bed afraid of coming out to their friends?
How many have some buds they'd die for in that town?
How many struggle day in and out, fleeing from a substance?
How many go through a routine each day, afraid to do more but afraid of leaving their path?
How many jot down ideas for that play they want to write on a napkin?
Is there a future president in there?
A poet of unparalleled verse?

How many people
Go from day to day in that city
Thinking they're alone in their problems
While surrounded by people who also think that?

What's going on
In those unlit houses of the city
Where the human mind resides?

Who's there?

Leaves of palm fall to the ground
As fish and coconuts abound
Children swim under the sun
Searching for some summer fun
Grownups head on to the bar
Or to gatherings where their colleagues are
Winter's left, snowbirds are gone
Some tourists are here, but most moved on
Sun climbs over the naval bases
Shining upon uniformed faces
Sailors clip along bays and coasts
Besides mangroves and shipwrecked ghosts
Plantains and barbacue, fish and rice
Lemonade for kids, and beers in ice
Corals are shining, and so are the jellies
While artists sunset performances spark passion in bellies
This is the hot passion of summer in Key West
Where oceans meet and birds come to rest

Hello ma'am, may I
Have a children's meal and
A light Budweiser

"Ugh, I'm so tired
I haven't showered in forever
I'm hot and thirsty
And my legs hurt so much"

Walking next to her
I replied
"I can't feel any of that
I'm so tired
That I'm only vaugely aware
Of a tingling ache in my feet
And some blurriness in my eyes occasionally."

She laughed and said that I had transcended

I said to her
"If this is transcendence, it kind of *****"

"That was like tripping
On acid." "I loved that when
I was ten" I said

"Well, that would explain
Quite a lot about you, then"
My friend mumbled back

Who knew that you could
On two hours of sleep, and
Walk miles all day

Sitting out of dance
We realized that we were
"***** emo" teens

EPCOT, in the end
Is half Thinking Day
Made professional

Also, my dreams are
Apparently far too weird
To have been healthy

I think everyone has been self conscious
When it comes to how we view our body
How could we not, with all of the images
That we see online and on the T.V.?

For me, what helped with my view of my bodice
(Though it might seem quite weird)
Is that I could've been greek goddess
Like the statues in which they appeared

Can we all just, for once, agree
That we have enough problems without you fighting me?

That if we stop fighting, just maybe,
We can change the world we see

I seem to be
Continually stuck

Between the worldviews
Of Bradbury and Hawking

Between schedules
Of eight million events and none at all

Between wanting to join in
And feeling like I shouldn't

Between wanting to do everything
And wanting to do nothing

Because even though I often speak
Of finding middle ground
When it becomes personal
It just can't seem to be found

Coming through arches and glass
Out with your bags, inspected fast
Under a tree in a garden's sun
Read out the rules to everyone
Tell us how to drive safe as kids
Homilize on the things people did
Over and done, we get our cards
Useful for work or for fun
Seems like only yesterday
Everyone had to ask 'rents for a way

The
Internet
Is the wild west
Of the modern era, with
Vast, open space, laws with few sheriffs
Fights between groups rights and religious beliefs
Unknown connections waiting, and some rustler's crime rings
And a presence of *** overlooked when this is taught to kids

Thinking closely, Walt Whitman was right
For there is a peculiar delight
In streching one's limbs
Admiring the machine within
With eyes that can see the world's night

I wonder if Doctor Doolittle
Started off like this

It seems like a new point
For the human race
With the first political protest
In outer space

With civilians
There are a few, but not much
But on a small base
You can see them everywhere
In the milit'ry
They're a popular feature
From labs to shepherds
The force is full of black dogs

Let's walk down the cobbled road in the rain
We'll come back with pastries and some new books
Let's visit that old castle once again
The boxer boy graffiti's still there, look
The DART dashes on to the city streets
As we bring groceries back to the rise
In a misty garden, there's birds to meet
We set the table under still bright skies
After a plane trip over the east sea
We're finally in Éire with dad's fam'ly

"See, I've found that not a lot rattles you"*
I can't let it in my surrounding world
From populist risings gaining their roots
To drugs in the school (such as the bus girl)
I've seen school street plays, and blood on hall floors
And news that doesn't care about the truth
I've heard your fights with mom, in and out doors
I've seen infection spread amongst the youth
So call me jaded or darkly funny
But the way I am, you just have to be

Sometimes it was a palace
Of gossiping cortesians
Ruled by a queen
With an army of rough men at her influence
A palace from which I, the demon,
Was forbidden to enter
A place of shared lunchables and rubber bangles
While I was relegated to chasing bugs
And swinging through branches

At other times, it was a prison
Guarded by four of the new queen's men
While they sat counting poker chips of bark
I sat plotting an escape
I could dash out and outlast any man
But in a confined land
They'd intersect my path, given long enough
And every time
They'd drag me back under by my coat sleeves
Kicking and shouting

And other times
When no one else was out
And the grounds were as silent as a winter's night
And the queen and her men were in the city
Arguing ranking amongst lords and ladies
I would be out on the parapets
Turning the fortress
Into my domain
A perch with a view of the whole kingdom
A castle owned by the wild dragon

Now I walk up to it
And watch the children upon it
And I remember my time
As a demon
A prisoner
And a fierce, unbridled dragon

I am of the opinion
That throwing shade will always be
Best carried out if the other
Is left wondering what you mean

And though I don't do it too often
I've done it to a certain degree
In a project, I dissed school with Emerson quotes
And, in the end, our group got over a B

It's quite hard to flirt
When your parents and sister
Are between you two

Books should never be
Put in a washing machine
Just trust me on this

Maps are very good
But should that map fail, just ask
For some directions

Campuses are huge
But you soon will find that you
Can walk quite quickly

If weather says shorts
But your family says pants
Trust the weatherman

It's quite hard to flirt
When your parents and sister
Are between you two

Books should never be
Put in a washing machine
Just trust me on this

Maps are very good
But should that map fail, just ask
For some directions

Campuses are huge
But you soon will find that you
Can walk quite quickly

If weather says shorts
But your family says pants
Trust the weatherman

Fire burns in passion untold
Ice reflects and refracts in the cold
And it must be said:
Please watch your head
Their burns can scar you 'till you're old

If I only had a magical wand
I could break so many bonds
Instead of watching heroes on T.V.
I could be the one I want to be

I could multipy food again and again
I'd bring earth's hunger to an end
I could separate water from poison in it
From Africa to suburban Flint

I could make weapons vanish in a war
And make people question what they're killing for
I could build homes two minutes after a flood
And, in a drought, bring rain from above

I could do something with the prison population
I could fight memories that cause stigma in our nation
I could clean the air, take the trash from the water
Then reform it all into gifts for poorer sons and daughters

I could look into space with an enlarged telescope
I could start a wizard network of hope
Side by side, with my coven friends
We'd fight hatred and ills until our ends

But, alas, as you can clearly see
There is no magic wand with me
So I make my changes at a plodding pace
I only hope to change the world's face

I'm not deterred; I still will fight
To change the world to day from night
But in my dream, I still long
For that easy route of a magic wand

Some say the net is
A corrupting influence
On modern day youth

But keep in mind that
Socrates said the same of
The written language

My two cents in this
Is that the web is a tool
The most powerful

For with it we can
Whole new worlds and cultures that
For else wouldn't be

We can create minds
Artificial, but like us,
To explore this world

We can spread the word
News is real time, and we
Have a say in it

However, this can
Push people to their own deaths
War, or to ******

With so much to know
Falsehoods are also present
In this shifting world

But in the end, this
Is info's greatest tool yet
In history's time

Time and time again
From writing to printing press
This change has been good

So, in the end, we
Now have information's best
Tool in our hand's palms

Come what may, but I
Have some hopes for the future
Of this little web

To all who tell me I'll die alone:
I honestly think I prefer that tone
It's better to pass with no one at hand
Than surrounded by those you secretly can't stand

Thank you, A, for showing me
I wasn't the monster they made me out to be
For showing me that, in the end
Even freaks can have some friends

When you first approached me, I thought you were mad
For wanting to befriend someone so unspeakably bad
For a full hour, I thought you were a prank
That you were just there to give my chains a yank

In a way, you were my first friend
Hell, you were the second who didn't leave or betray me in the end
And the first I liked, but didn't see enough
I guess, for me, it was more puppy love

But in seventh grade, in a darkened gym
I sat at an empty table within
With so many seats, I couldn't believe
That you'd voluntarily sit and talk to me

And though we don't talk much anymore
Since I moved away and got more chores
Your memory always shines in my mind
As the first true friend I ever did find

It's not about interest, it's how you place
Your classes are weapons in an arms race
Your friends are taking two APs, so you take three
Soon we're mired in college work when high school is all we see

Counselors don't help, they only edge us on
Telling us we need advanced levels, or all college spots are gone
In Fairfax County, we score so high on tests
We ignore our thirty three percent depression and say we're the best

Because here all that matters is the grade on your transcript
You're a factory product, another computer chip
So if you're friend takes five college courses, take seven
After a semester, beg mercy and give up on heaven

I love the way that
Library bookshelves quiet
The sound of the world

So that I can search
For my mind's satisfaction
Without the chaos

So that just maybe
My mind can quiet down, too
From its raging roar

Musical standmates share
A special type of bond
Not one of friendship or love
But of knowing where things belong

You learn how to adjust the stand
So that it's the perfect height
How to turn a chair, pick up a bow
So it goes well on concert night

You also learn how they speak
(My stand partner loves bad puns)
And how to reply back to them
(With all the memes under the sun)

Spring has many calling signs
Like flowers and birds and sun
Or getting home to find
Thirty cars at your neighbor's for fun

For every spring and summer
The family across the street
Plays mariachi louder than a speaker
With their entire extended family to greet

My best trick ever
Is hiding crazy mischief
As part of my mind

My second best trick
Was putting sprinkles in the
Peanut butter jar

So this, readers and friends
Is where it began
I don't know where it ends
But let's look back again

A fourteen year old is writing
In a hospital room
Far her right in bright lighting
Is great-grandma, who'll die soon

She has few memories of her
As she wonders about home
Nonni keeps asking mother
Not to leave the girls alone

Now we're back in the hospital
On some Pennsylvanian hill
Thirty five family members in total
Nonni's more than ill

Christmas day, and we're at a friend's house
When we hear that final call
A week later, I'm at a funeral, sounding like a mouse
For someone I nearly didn't know at all

Looking back, that was the start
Of most of my questions
On society, religion, art
What the rules really ment

I found a taste for the books
That mom didn't like
I expanded my looks
Gained interest in the night

I started growing apart
From those I once knew
With secrets in my heart
My friends were my closest few

I learned more about a family
That I once thought typical
And (mostly) solved my belifs
On the meaning of "it all"

I look back on the before
As though regarding a cat
It's cute innocence I adore
I find it hard to believe I was that

I still have that Christmas blanket
A snow leopard, her last gift
For a woman I saw maybe four or five times, it
Still has a nice warmth to it

So sometimes I dream of a mint hospital wall
And think back to the start of it all

Does everyone do this, or is it just me
That sometimes I love a celebrity
Because whenever they show up on T.V.
I'm reminded of someone I used to see

I may act a bit odd every now and then
You call me a puppy, but I'm fully human
Sure, in good weather, I roll down a window
And stick my head out as far as I dare go
Yes, I also stick my nose in the air and sniff
If I smell food, perfume, or anything amiss
And I might snuggle up to you at random times
When I feel lonely or can't keep open my eyes
Though I'm an introvert, I'm good with a pack
But with those unfamiliars, my social skills lack
I'm often quiet, but I can raise my voice
I bark loudly and howl with joy if given the choice
I can be a bit akward, pushy, or clumsy
But despite stupid mistakes and curiosity, I'm no dummy
Okay, you may have been right all along
That some part of me is that of a dog