we are here
in time and space
together
sharing this strange place

where did we come from
will we return
who sent us
and what were we sent here to learn?

do I or don't I
yes or no?
maybe it's better not to know
there is freedom in the dark
one look into my soul
could collapse the
waveform

sometimes I spend too much time
online
it feels so strange
to go outside
and be myself
in front of everyone else
it's hard to forget
that the world has eyes

online I can be anyone
but outside I am one person
exactly one
no avatar and no veneer
not everywhere or nowhere
exactly here

and when I am here
really here
I feel my feelings
hope and fear
love and desire
when I am not numbed by a screen
I am on fire

sometimes it is
too much to feel
too visceral
too bright
too real

and so I spend my time online
afraid to be a human
afraid to be alive

.  
     two        vines    
  wrap          around
each          other
and     grow
together
into
one new
life     form
as                 if
they           had
never         even
known       life
without one
another

I am not                      
        deep like                         
the sea              
shallow    
                       like a              
                                                 ­                   rainbow                                       ­                                                                   I am a            
                                                                ­                wild river          
                                                                ­                      I move       
                                                     ­                        mountains           
                                                                ­    that I follow                     
                                                     standing stones                      
                                                   like broken bones                                
                           ­               show me where to go                          
                                    ­    deep within my soul I know                     
                           the       ocean      is     my      home

if I had a child
I would be afraid
of leaving them alone
with anyone
even me

something could go wrong
there are a thousand ways how

I can see it now

I would always be
afraid

who are you?
who am I?
two reflections
eye to eye

out of time
out of control
staring into each other's souls