being stuck, they say, is uncomfortable.
i believe it’s not necessarily true. for instance,

...i like getting stuck inside my room and read for a day or two or three or four, forever.
...i like getting that last song stuck in my head for a day or two or three or four, forever.
...i like getting stuck in traffic with my pen and paper.
...i like getting stuck in the moment...perhaps, with you.

getting stuck is an opportunity, staying stuck is unhealthy

staying stuck on a single story out of convenience regardless of its completeness is poison mistaken for remedy

...a pillow
...another pillow
...mixtapes and re-runs
..."500 days of" DVD
...the TV on mute
...your restless hopeful heart

i want to travel the world one color at a time

...see the color of the first sunrise
...sip black tea on London rain
...linger at the heart of the Big Apple
...gaze at the pink skies of California
...cliff dive into the Aegean blue sea
...marvel at the green grass of the African safari
...get lost in the land with the whitest snow
...witness the sunset in Rio
...travel in space and walk the gray surface of the moon

but i’d rather pull all the shades and wander the great indoors
where the color of comfort is...

my unmade bed

need a break?
breakfast?
coffee break?
lunch break?
linebreak?
heart break?
summer break?
christmas break?
breakfree?
breaking bad?
break-a-leg?

you could have been the gloomy day
beautiful in your own way
a blank palette
capable of becoming what we make of it

you could have been a time to reflect and
admire the beauty unnoticed on a sunny day

...in a worn-out field notes
...in the post-it you hid inside your field notes
...inside your head
...inside your head at 6PM
...in the slides that took forever to create
...in your bookmarks folder
...in your untitled folder
...in between deadlines
...in meeting targets
...in ‘on second thoughts’
...in fear of letting go
...don’t let them die

all the lights
all the songs
a promise of hope
in this strange time

...the city at 4AM

...pages turning slowly

...a sigh of relief

...a heart beating

...the inaudible neighborhood

...leaves falling

...pen touching the paper

...the rain

...the silence after the rain

...the silence

...silence

...ssshh

...whether you hear the snow patrol live or you don’t
...whether you see the tigers win or you don’t
...whether you travel the world or you don’t
...whether you travel out of this world or you don’t
...whether you learn how to fly or you don’t
...whether you see the end of the rainbow or you don’t
...you deserve to love
...you deserve to be loved

i will miss...

...all the words even when they’re meant for someone else

...how you make me read between the lines, the commas, the
parentheses and the semicolons

...the all-consuming feeling as i turn the last page

...giving you up to others

borrow words from your best-loved poets.

choose to set your old heart free.

some things can’t be rushed.

all the world is made of
faith,
trust,
everything that keeps it alive,
and love --

the greatest of all is love.

...i love thee to the deepest blue
...with the speed of sound
...to a sky full of stars

...i love thee from daylight to midnight
...as clocks turn—a whisper of amazing day

...i love thee freely, as stars shine yellow

...i love thee purely, as charlie brown’s cartoon heart

these are the things that fall,

an apple,
some leaves,
droplets of rain,
and then of tears.

almost all heavy objects,
(including) my sleepy eyes.
the sun at the close of day.
the stars on a dark sky.

the sky,

and my heart, for the only thing that didn’t (fall), your heart.

...you could have been
...every single word waiting to win the heart of another
...a gift saved for a special reason
...sometimes sentimental but often too shallow
...other times too deep -  i don't know what it means
...a gift saved to be given away
...not expecting anything and always hoping for the best

...her love knows no conditions, logic or loops
...she waits forever
...her habits are as endearing as her
...she knows that she just don't know
...she’s not afraid of always
...and even though generations come and go
...her love remains the same
...i pray that one day
...i may love like her

...i love thee with a head full of dreams
...as i try to empty out the ocean with a spoon

...i love thee to the level of all i can think about is you
...where love is the only thing left that’s true

...i love thee with every teardrop that is a waterfall
...with every magic and miracles

...and with this feeling i live for, this everglow
...and as the scientist declares, nobody said it was easy

...i shall but love thee better after we face death and all his friends

...the morning tv
...when your phone and your earphones connect
...mr. cardiff singing, i carry your heart in my heart sung with every song
...the opening line of your favorite radio show

...your mispronounced name
...everything on mute each time you have coffee
...your hands typing
...your seatmate laughing

...all the steps you take on your afternoon walk
...the moment the day gives way to the night
...thought bubbles on your evening commute
...your eyes closing.

things
are
happening
so
fast

i promise to keep up.

...give back
...give a hand
...give it all
...give more than you could afford
...give your heart then change your mind
...give it time
...give even when it hurts
...do not give up
...give; for wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

...to weekday wake-up calls
...to monotonic wardrobe
...to the smell of coffee
...to blank spaces
...to conversing chairs and empty benches
...to long walks
...to midnights
...to back porch poetry and sonnets
...to sunday morning bike rides
...to gloomy days
...to days without plans
...to days with random plans
...to stillness and invisibility
...to taking chances
...to gestures big and small
...to love languages and unintentional kindness
...to the right song at the right time
...to words spoken and unspoken
...and to all i forgot to thank
...thank you.

...you could have been the last train, or
...the song on the radio i tuned in on too late

...a flower in spring that i saw in fall
...or every single thing i wait for

...but like all the well-written prose,
...good things move on

...you could have been the time between midnight and daylight
...the blue and white lights on the tv when all the shows wrapped up
...the silence between every song
...the space between every word
...the three dots between every message
...the missing that turns everything into something

...theory: there is a john mayer song for every stage in your life

...on always being told to stay inside the lines
...on living on your own for the first time
...on feeling like gravity wants to bring you down
...on wishing there is an over-the-counter test for your loneliness
...on wanting nothing more in life than to be 6yo again
...on fridays and going away for the weekend
...on finding love in a sandbox or a sidewalk
...on never going to find the perfect rhyme to heavier things
...on feeling like summer is what the whole year is all about
...on feeling like waking up is the hardest part of dreaming
...on dinnertime shadowing
...on being alright even when given an expiring ‘always’
...on never being scared to walk alone, and
...on never being scared to like it
...on pain throwing your heart to the ground, and
...on love turning it all around
...on being in repair, not together but getting there

to us,
when it doesn’t matter,
it doesn’t matter...
but when it matters…
it matters big
too big,
we spend so much time on it -
away from real the world.
alone.

but we always come back home

...and i know sometimes you feel you’re just a speck
...or a heartbeat
...and you try to build a wall
...one brick after another
...but i know
...and i hope you do too
...you make ripples
...in your corner
...of the world

...i know sometimes you feel you’re invisible
...like a stop light on a sunny afternoon
...a misplaced road sign
...a series of deliberately inconvenient everyday objects
...someone who escaped a calculation
...like the changing of season
...a stranger in someone’s fiction
...like a satellite so distant
...a thought bubble—here today, and then gone

...i resolve to tune out
...write more
...nap more

...i resolve to embrace confusion
...keep discovering
...keep listening

...i resolve to be more self-aware
...refuse to act my age
...say less no and more yes

...but let my yes be yes and my no be no

today i will

…do nothing but
scroll mindlessly
to your recently played
hoping to get connection

today i will

…do nothing but
travel the world
through the window of this room
hoping to get inspiration

today i will

…do nothing but
menially
type words
hoping to find the write one

today i will

…do nothing but
stare at the ceiling
and never leave this bed,

i would celebrate
the day i did nothing.

...this is the perfect coffee i will never have
...this is the perfect poem i will never write
...this is the perfect story i will never draw
...this is the perfect tune i will never hear

...this is the perfect day i will completely miss
...this is the perfect person i will never become
...this is the perfect hand i will never hold
...beside you is the perfect spot i will always have to give up

...this is perfection: it’s an illusion.

...that most people do

...wake up
...go to work
...think of you

...sit at desk
...listen to music
...think of you

...go home
...sleep
...think of you

...please take notice
...i’m thinking of you

a well-loved pen,
the human mind,
the way, the time,
eventually, hope and faith.

then my words when you're finally near,
and myself whenever you're not here

there were cups and the sunset
but you never saw them, really
no you never saw them at all
till there were filters

...a certain darkness is needed
...to see the stars
...to truly appreciate the vastness of the universe
...and the searching we might do in it
...and how feeble we are
...and out of all these stars
...we hope that somewhere
...on another planet exactly like this one
...someone is looking at the same sky,
...having the same thoughts.
...a sweet, perfect reminder that
...we are never truly alone.
...and whether we search on or wait still
...we will always have the same sky
...and that’s enough for me.

space...beyond earth
space...a rectangular key
space...and time continuum
space...the distance
space...between the lines
space...neither black nor white
space...someplace cold
space...someplace empty
space...freedom

will you
ever gaze
at the
same star
that i
do?

some days it storms
some days it shines
some days cold
some days warm

some days you’re near
some days you’re far
some days you’re here to stay
some days you’re gone