Some people listen to hear,
and some listen to respond.

Some people talk to be heard,
and some talk because they can’t stand the silence.

He sees himself through bloodshot eyes
Painting a picture with his lies.
He knows the party has an end
But not now, let the session never end

A shiny ribbon
some glitter

paper folded
precisely

edges taped
concealment

mystery
suspense

the best gift
you ever gave us

was and always will be
each other

whit howland © 2021

I am going to die soon.

Life is just a flicker,
like turning off a light.
One second the light's there
and then its gone

The world's been around
for billions of years.
I won't make a difference.
My stories wont be told
in textbooks for students
to roll their eyes over .

The only thing I'll leave behind
is my carbon footprint.
I'll only be killing
Mother Earth
the longer I live

People take their time
trying to figure out life's least
answered questions,
but no one has ever wondered this:

Is life worth living at the cost of another?

When people ask me , are you okay?
My mouth replies , yeah I'm fine.

BUT

My heart replies silently , "help me".

Will you be my Valentine?  Next
year of course.  When the red and
white polka dots star out the
night and I am confounded
with your beauty.  

Why haven't I written, you ask?
I have dumped my life's colors
onto pages
and into notebooks for you.
I am a woman of many words.
I describe events in the shells and fossils along the beach we walked when we loved each other.

I am engraved by the events
of your stone hard meanings.
I wrap your adjectives in the
filo dough which lines me and
through which my delicate
remembrances filter.

You are the spoon with which I am measured.  Myself into your coffee and cream, you into my death defying
dare to life.


Caroline Shank