She told me,
You are a poet.
I told her,
You are the poetry,
I am a witness
-my testimonial

Without me, there would be
No souls in this house.
Only the carcass of the person
You used to be.


I’m starting to get lonely.

Even though she is the sun,
She gives you life,
Warms your skin to the touch,

Remember why there is the moon.
Too much heat and you will burn.
Too much darkness and you’ll get lost.

The World stops spinning for no one,
Learn from her and see
Life is a tightrope walk between comfort and gravity.

When we approached the intersection
Contaminated with political signs,
Yes on 1, No on 1. I asked,
“What did you vote for, daddy?”

We waited an hour in line for the elevator
Inside the crowded Empire State Building.
It was our turn but you said,
“We aren’t going in there with them.”

I had just received my diploma
And was floating on the high of achievement.
She put her arm around me and you said,
“Stop being so queer.”

My heart is broken
And I stay locked away for days
You knock on my door and ask,
“What’s wrong?”

I am not going to tell you what’s wrong
When I grew up hearing from your lips
That I am what’s wrong.
He doesn’t need that extra burden.

I will carry the memories of
Your vote against gay marriage,
The two men holding hands in the elevator,
The words that made my diploma a dagger.

As a duet, my mom and alarm clock yell to get up.
Half asleep, I nearly fall asleep while brushing my teeth.
I choose my outfit, maybe I’ll dress up today.
I run out to the bus as it screeches to a stop on the curb.

My friends are leaned against their lockers.
I stare at the clock all of Algebra.
Pizza for lunch.
I die of boredom as the school day comes to an end.

Gunshots and screams full the air as they tell me something’s wrong.
In shock, I nearly faint while people shush us through their teeth.
I choose where to hide, maybe the teachers desk will work as a blockade.
The gunshots subside, the shooter has left the building.

My friends lie dead on the hallway floor.
I stare at the puddles of red that stain the tiles.
Cries of grief.
How did I not die?

If I had known my school would become a battleground
I would have invested in a bulletproof vest to keep under my desk
Just in case the lockdown drill doesn’t work.

Are pencils to erasers
As guns are to bullets?

Wooden walls that form around my bed,
Laughing at something my roommate said
I see way too many faces in the day;
They're all the same, nothing changed from yesterday.

These paths they've kissed my feet.
We weren't allowed to cross the street.
We joke about it being a jail,
But to be honest I wouldn't pay that bail

It gets old,
But wouldn't trade it for gold.
I know that these people, they love me.
But out of everyone, baby
You cooked me up this recipe
To believe in destiny.

Winter's always that coldest up North.
Walking outside was always a force.
Your hand was the only warmth that I wanna feel.
Coming back from spring break, that feeling was unreal.

The springtime came and the rain fell.
We know our hearts, they were parallel.
Our love's on track for the end.
Teachers knew we were more than friends.

It gets old,
But wouldn't trade it for gold.
I know that these people, they love me.
But out of everyone, baby
You cooked me up this recipe
To believe in destiny.

Now we're eighteen and out of here.

I have these moments of epiphany.
It is while I watch myself
Wake up and not kiss the soil.

The days I don’t remember
What color the sky was
Or how I treated my mother.

Each time I fly and I realize
There is nothing more breathtaking
Then seeing her from above.

Powerful, Resilient, Art, Oppressed, Female.
That is why I fall in love with the Earth,
She reminds me of all the women I’ve ever loved
That I do not deserve.