Why is there a little boy lying on the beach?
Washed up.
Lifeless.
All for a new life too far to reach?

Why is there a little boy lying on the beach?
Terrorists
Heartless.
What happened to the human rights we all preach?

Why is there a little boy lying on the beach?
Traffickers.
Gangs.
Displacing people no home and no speech.

Why is there a little boy lying on the beach?
A son.
No future.
We hang our heads and weep!

the river flows into
the night,
stars parade,
ghosts of the air
chant strange songs,
the flowers once
spellbound
close with the breath
of the moon,
floating
i am a ghost too.

a fiery heart,
the beating sun,
summer’s ghosts burning
and a lonely petal falls from the rose.

I think this is my goodbye letter to you,
but, please, don't be mistaken,
for I don't intend on forever.
I count the waves one at a time
and wait to see
if the blood of cardinals is as red
as the color of their feathers.

I never wish of parting
but ends are ever inevitable.
The moon drinks all the water
and spits it all back out again.
Flowers eat the sunlight
and the sun will eat them back
when it gets hungry.

I say goodbye to you
in the way that fireflies die.
They burn with light in life
and the end is never seen
for the daylight takes over,
and we see the more colorful things
instead.

I whisper that I will see you again
to myself at night
when I'm alone.
And stack rocks in chains
just because I want to knock them down.

Goodbye.
Because puzzle pieces only
unravel us in the heart.
And writing good words only
gets you a fancy car
with no one to spill things in.
Goodbye because flowers cry dew
Goodbye because carbon dioxide is eating the green
Goodbye because I'm only 5'8" and
will never be as tall as I want to be
Goodbye.

I can't promise you I'll wait.
I can't promise God will not laugh at me.
But I tell you goodbye because
I'm stuck here.

On the bay of love
All are refugees

I fear closeness.
I fear close knit and tongue tied
I fear you and I.
these days I think myself
into a coma more often times
than I am actually awake.
The thought of mere interaction
shakes me to the core
and I don't want to find myself anymore
because I'm terrified of who exactly I'll meet.

I am hanging at the edge of your lips again-
realizing what it is I have made you feel
which is less than nothing, but also everything
which is eggshells and self-preservation
and a mindset that is filtered when I am around.
I would like to know you too-
but I am afraid we will not connect
as good as we did once.
I often find myself missing where we were
even if it was disoriented, at least it had a name.

Often I fear I am too much-
too dysfunctional, too erratic
to ever find love the way I would like.
Looking into the mirror
the reflection I see reminds me I am something.
Here. Present.
That if I try hard enough I can get to where I need to be
and the sun is shining and my mind is free again.
Until the moment comes to where I am low
and I try to look at myself in the mirror
tell myself I am something- Here. Present.
but all I seem to see are the tears
and the smeared makeup-
all I seem to see
is the past that keeps repeating in my mind
the memories that my retinas like to replay.
I guess I'm not over it.

I would like to marry someday-
have kids and show them love,
show them happiness can exist
and that marriage isn't a death sentence
that love is not just a word
that it is everything.
But I find myself sitting here
on the bathroom floor
waiting for the shower water to warm
just the way I like it
and I'm afraid that's how my life will always be
waiting for things to be consistent
and manageable
just the way I like them.

But then I feel the water and it's cold-
someone used up all the hot water again
or maybe there's no propane.
Either way I'm cold,
either way I'm cold.