I came knocking on your front porch,
Running on your lawn--
I kept waiting in the silence,
And sat under the moonlight.

I called you, I yelled.
Ever single raindrop
Was my every cry--
A plea for you to hear me.

But the corners of your home,
Gave you your shelter.
The concrete living stone,
Grant you your warmth.
It was a comfort for you
Never to open the door,
Nor the windows,
And let me in
To shower you
With the words I'd told you--
Those you didn't hear.

How easily you have taken for granted
Years of laughter and sorrow,
Of sleepless nights and lifeless mornings.
How easily you have chosen one over the other.

You know you're a poet
When you have walked the tightropes
Of being placed into a confined label
And still look up to a brighter sky of hope.

You know you're a poet
When you hear echoes of voices
That resonate within your mind
From all the mistakes and bad choices.

You know you're a poet
When you can see shades of colour
Within a black and white film
And see value beyond the dollar.

You know you're a poet
When the winter comes you cheer
For all the new found imagery
Like the sight of snow that is white clear.

You know you're a poet
When spring has arrived
You think of a spring in a step
and how a pen-spring is alive.

You know you're a poet
When heartbreak is motivation
For a chance to write sullen words
And heart ache becomes a wonderful creation.

Not cancer within our bones,
But it’s a cancer of our homes.
It’s a “hierarchy” deemed “alright”
But it’s a battle – a true fight.

It’s a longing for control and
It’s a simple punch, fist, hand
Or not even that. It could be
Lashing words that ignore her plea.

He denies her to her loved ones
For that’s who would step up with guns
Of love, ropes of safety. “Keep quiet,”
She’s told, which is now her best bet.

It’s shame that keeps her in silence.
It’s love that frees her from *violence.

I have those friends--
A lot of them.
Some, I've known for so long,
Some I just met.
I have those friends,
But I do not have "that friend".

That friend who will nudge me to help her,
That friend who will pull me to roam around with her,
That friend who will share her thought out randomly.

I do not have that friend.
That friend I can talk to when I feel down,
That friend who I can visit when I have nowhere else to go.
That friend I'll keep talking to when I'm away,
That friend I can bore with my endless cries, rants, heartbreaks.

I have a lot of friends--
Loving, caring, wonderful friends;
But I do not have "that friend".
Or maybe I lost "that friend".

I will miss the days when you call me,
And the nights when you bring me back home.
I will miss the times when I worry,
And the promises that you make for me alone.
I will miss the things I can't tell you,
And every single moment we shared.

I will miss the movies we are yet to watch,
The songs we are yet to sing,
and the places we are yet to visit.
I will miss my late night thoughts,
And the stories I want to share.

I will miss the things we used to do,
And those ones we will never have.
Oh, how I'll miss you,
Along with the memory of you.

I catch a glimpse of you
And I marvel at your beauty.
Your joy radiates,
Your light resonates.
I smile, because I am in awe.
And I longed to reach you
And touch you
But then I realize
that you are far away--
Too far for me--
That I cannot reach you,
And all I can do
Is marvel you
As I watch you
From a distance.