You're sixteen years old, and you know
                                             how to write an essay in under an hour. You know
           how many paragraphs you will need, and what part of a text you need to
                  rip apart,
                                        just so you can
                                put it back together like you want (need) it to be.


                             You've been alive for sixteen years and
                                                         you've smoked everything your parents
                                      told you not to,
                                                                ­       you've felt the ache in your lungs and
                                                                ­                 the burn at the back of your throat,
                                                         ­                                            you've woken up in pain and felt regret
                                                          ­                                    and you've made it passed that (mostly).


       You're sixteen years old and you know why half the world
                 is starving, but you don't know why you're not
        allowed to give them food, you don't know why
                                           your parents wont let you race
                                   across the world to (attempt to) save a starving child.


                                                   You've been alive for sixteen years and you know
     what it feels like to be left at the supermarket while your mother
                                rushes of to get 'another type of pasta'
             or 'just one more piece of fruit',
                                                      you learnt (learning) pretty early
                                      what being alone
                                                                ­     felt like.


                                                         ­                   You're sixteen years old and you've memorized
                           more songs than you probably should have
                                                                ­                                          and you fell in love
                              with the idea of love before
                                     you had even truly
                                                  felt it for yourself. One day, you promise,
                       you will escape (be at peace with) this body
                                                                ­                       you have been so unwillingly trapped in,
                                                                ­             you will visit cities you didn't even know existed
                                                        and watching sunrises with a stranger that you love,
                                  you will tear them apart,
                                                          ­                     pin them down,
                     forcing your love into their dying lungs.

never be afraid of the unknowns in life
you will find glory and you will find strife
and it may shape you but don't let it change
never let the world make you feel like you're strange
you are perfect from head to toes
how i got so lucky, God only knows
so when you're rambunctious and a little too loud
i may seem overwhelmed but remember that i'm proud
amongst the fighting, the yelling, the messing
i know my children are my greatest blessing
there would be no me without you
so remember that no matter what you do
i'll be there to guide you along
try to teach you right from wrong
hold your hand, teach you prayer
in life we should love and share
take care of each other, our family
my children bring out the best in me
i think of how much i would miss
you give me meaning in all of this
i'm sorry for days when i seem stressed
because i know i'm truly blessed
crayon art on the walls
fingerprints trailing down the halls
through laughter and tears
i'm grateful for these years
and i know without doubt that i'm the lucky one
looking into the eyes of my daughter and son

vessels like roadways
surround the heart of
my inner silly, these days,
cells drive slower and fast
working hard red, in the face
sunrise to high noon too last
                                              light.

all limbs move freely, come what may,
dance with chaotic steps and strides,
eyes on every street corner are the way
of the beholder, to take it in and hold
it safe and sound, valued bits and bytes
more so than those who are boldly told
to sleep not here or there but on the ground.

It is the inner silly where I live and breathe,
walk and roll up my sleeves to get returns
on my invested time.  It is the inner silly
where I work at play watching my step
recording  it all down hoping I can get
away,
          flying low so my wingtips touch

the dreamy waters, that may refresh,
my  mind to let my inner silly be respected
and free, to freeze that image forever,
to be be pasted on my window to be
seen each time I lose sight
of my Inner Silly.

this is short and sweet,
things have soured,
was in the ocean,
found and trusted a raft,
was I daft,
now been cut adrift,
raft is rotten top to bottom
to the core of the heartwood.
there is a rift in
my naive trust
of circling sharks
of pirate people
who disarm you
with kind words
then throw nets
trap the free
flight our birded wing.

She flies no more.
Broken wings,
can't be restored,
Bullies sometimes
dress in suits and ties
and where brotherly
and sisterly disguises.

So sad

I am sorry to announce that due to intermittent
thick cloud cover,
(I am so a lover
of meteor showers) our viewing is cancelled,
no wait is that
a clearing in the sky the deep blue colour and
are those stars
not near but afar, nope, just some plane, making
for Bellingham or Blaine, might
as well be Spain.

Shower me with flowers. (no thorns please)
Shower me with (dark)chocolate.
Shower me with meteors.
                                           No not me personally.
What lights their tales
What makes their beards
  Flame...to warm my heart
I know the physics, astro-too
Does it affect me, like it affects you
Just one hour of a meteor shower
I'll be good for another year of power,
like one super hero (or ONE with a super lot of zeroes, after)
We can hold an after meteor party at my place and
your all invited and I will put your names on the
guest list, now we can't now we won't there is no
shower here this night
clouds shield my sight
they are like a blight
on the fruit
that I toiled
for a year,
readied my
sleep cycle,
pruned back
tree tops to
see the horizon,
set up lines
of sight to
track their
paths this night
across the heavens
but now I will
go to bed,
if you show
up to a dark
house, I am
sorry in advance
as I said sadly at
the start the
show is cancelled
and for my part
I will try again
tomorrow night!