where do you go
when you shrink yourself
so small?

sometimes i imagine
when you shrink
into this fragile thing,
in some far away place
the pieces of your self you hid
are growing exponentially,
a garden in full bloom.

I looked up and I couldn’t see the end of it but I knew it was there
Sunshine glimmered against the surface like
Cling wrap
Infinite horizons meant intrusive thoughts
If only I could bring myself to jump
Small children giggled in a row
Stumbling over each other’s oblivious actions on the dirt-caked path
Brought a smile to my face because they couldn’t help it
Panting puppy dogs sent a haze of debris into the air
Enticed the girls, sitting on a blanket
Who didn’t care to understand the appeal of fishing
Families of several walked by substance abuse and crude jokes
Disapproving looks but no one really cared
The sky was cloudless but the air was smoke ridden
We took a short nap
The sun set over the train tracks so the sky never turned pretty
But the melted blue meant we were to go now
So we walked past gurgling babies and smiling mommies on the dingy trail
And drove home with the windows down and it was an icy wind that bit our earlobes
The speaker screamed hey good lookin and we sang as we became enveloped in the
Blanket of wilderness

That girl in your class
She laughs,
Her smile lights up an entire room.

That girl in your class
She has great grades,
She doesn't even have to try.

That girl in your class
She has seemingly amazing friends who care about her.

That girl in your class
She has scars,
Lines marking her body,
And friends that don't notice.
And some that don't care.

That girl in your class
Doesn't remember what it's like to not cry.
She cries herself to sleep every night.

But hey,
She smiles.
So she's okay.
Right?

Maybe it’s time
To go out
And enjoy the Summer
That my father broth to us
There we will enjoy
The sunny days
Every single day
We will not waste the days
Sleeping in
Because if  we sleep in
We won’t sleep at night
Also that won.t be the right
Thing to do
We must live our lives to
The fullest

Brown leaves flux the pond
tadpoles elude the sunlight
an eerie fog infringed

I want you to know something.
It's okay to ask for help.
It's not embarrassing; it's brave
To admit you don't know something
And want to change.
I ask that you don't worry
That people will think less of you
If you do. You're trying to learn.
And that's something you should
Never apologize for

You may be lost. You may be alone.
But it's not your fault.
Even if you push people away.
I know, coming from someone on the outside looking in, it's easy to say "don't listen to them"
Or "take what they say with a grain of salt."
So I won't say that.
It doesn't help you feel better anyway.
What I will say is what I said before.
It's not your fault.
I don't know what happened, but if you isolated yourself, that was a reaction.
And there's no right or wrong way
to react to anything. But not all hope is lost.
When you react, you adapt.
It's not easy. In fact, it can be quite painful.
But you did it once. You can adapt again.

As cold and lonely as the outside can be, there's a lot less drama and pressure;
You're free

You dreamed it once
The slow bend in the road
Past which the world delves
Into the realm of the unreal
Unrealised futures selves
That are as material as
Anything will ever be
In this stretch of land
Between here and infinity
Where a million bonded yous
Could be living in flawed
Synchrony, a dissonance of
Possible lives you will never see
Even now at the precipice
Of all that waits to come
The time it takes for a hum
To bloom into the vibration
Of a body growing wings
Is that step that lays down
The brick for the next
Two feet never together
On the same square inch of ground
There lies the sound of cracking shells
A chrysalis to which you are bound
By birth, where inside you lay the
Stones of the inverted pyramid
With each clean bone leading
Cleanly to the edge, the rising temple
Held up by the apex of the roof
Long before belief has penetrated
The invisible heart of the root