Hey, step out of the cold
This is home
This is warm

You can leave if you’d like
I’ll keep the light on
Keys under the mat

I can hear you come in at 3 a.m.
I am still
I lie awake
Though appear sleeping

Crawl under warm sheets
And imagine you were here the whole night
If that’s what you want me to believe
I still wake up next to you
So, I’ll believe

Two bears were so in love
Tasted the best of honey
They slept together in this cave
Body huddled close to body
Which almost looked like one giant bear
And they raised two beautiful cubs
They had beautiful brown fur
The kind you’d like to tussle
But being bears
You really wouldn’t want to do that

Men came one day
Carrying what looked like
Big brown and silver tipped sticks
They wore bright orange vests and hats
Seemed almost comically from bears eyes
far from humor

The men’s eyes rested on the bears
First they seemed amazed at this sight
Then they raised their sticks to their heads
Pointed them at the bears
Almost as if to say,
“I’ve been looking for you.”

Loud bursts in the forest
Made birds flee from their nests
The bears ran
Multiple beads cutting through fur
Through flesh
Made them pour out red
Confusion and fear

The two cubs quickly fell
Then the female
The male bear ran
Exhaustion covered up with scars
He crawled back into his cave
Tried to sleep but he was cold and scared

So he told himself
I’m going to sleep for months, years
Perhaps a lifetime
Because I’ve seen what this world brings
So,
He slept

How did we ever come to this conclusion
That the human *****
The Heart
Is associated with the feeling of love

Why not the brain
Because a series of situations must fall into place in order for us to fall in love
We need to understand we are in love
It’s like a process
We have to meet our soul mate
We have to take them out
Spend a significant amount of money on them
To let them know they matter significantly in our lives
You see our brain has to break these things down
Back down a single molecule

We have to understand that we are drawn to this person
For some unknown reason, divine intervention perhaps
When we think about the one we love we get happy
I feel this in my head
Not in my chest

Then when you didn’t return my love
I thought about it with my brain and came to the conclusion that I was sad
That’s when I understood that love come from the heart too
Because when you left, it literally felt like my heart dropped
I didn’t get that sensation in my head
I felt that one in my chest

In a dream I could
Be walking in a hallway
Then be politely greeted
By a giant green giraffe

Or on a boat
On the sea
This is filled with
Small fetuses and catastrophe

They don’t make much sense
Yet other say they do…
I can’t think of the last time
I’ve ever been on a boat
Or for that matter…
Seen a green giraffe

You’re at that point
Where you’re stirring in your sleep
Then just as the dream gets good
You wake up to the sound of nothing

Dreaming makes poets write
It gives 8year old boys a goal
And they make others upset...

While..
I look at them like a story
And each sleep, a chapter

Then I try and put them all together
Just so I can look
At the crazy adventure
That I never had

Why are you here
What is your importance
How were you created
Does it feel emotions
Is it excited that I’m here
He recognizes that I’m living
And that I can interact
Having something else to interact with
I think that makes him happy

He’s running
From the back of his cage
To his wheel
And then he returns to the feed
That’s all we’re doing
Except our idea of a “cage”
Is much larger

He scratches out of the cage
For what looked like a corn nugget
I picked it up and gave it to his hands
And he took it
Sat and ate

I just helped that animal
It couldn’t reach the nugget
And that made him sad
Because it’s something he can usually get
But when it’s out of his reach
His internal cycle missteps
Causing him to break down

He jumped on the side of the cage
Revealing his genitals
Shaking them is somewhat of a snooty fashion
Does he know what humor is
It doesn’t have cognitive thinking
It can’t decide for itself
Why did it do that
For what purpose
What is driving this animal to do anything at all
What is the significance of its existence


How were you made
What the hell are you
Humor, sadness, joy
Can it feel all emotions
It’s so basic
So simple
Does he only feel one emotion
One emotion
All the time
I am such a complex human being
I can’t even image a life
An existence
Where I only have one emotion

And that’s what makes us special
And that’s what makes us human

From one hundred and fifty miles away
You drilled a ***** into my head
These simple encounters collaborated together
And they built an emotion
It was sculpted from past events:
Driving around in your car listening to angsty teenage punk rock music
Everyone looked at us with a face that stated, “They don’t belong here”.
Showing me around your town. Knowing that where I was standing on Main Street,
You stood in that same exact spot ten years ago.
Sitting on your couch watching funny videos on youtube. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I wasn’t wasting my time.
With you watching lighting bugs illuminate their ***** over the corn. Made me realize that you live in Nebraska. And I am happy I live here too.
Midnight. At the golf course. We got lost in stars and found a perfect spot on a bench donated by the “Rodriguez Family”.  If that bench wasn’t there, we wouldn’t had a perfect view, which is why I’m so ******* thankful for the Rodriguez Family.
I should’ve been paying more attention to the road because it was so dark but, looking at the stars and creating constellations from the words that you said to me sounded like a greater idea.
I could just hear this voice, screaming within my rib-cage.
It didn’t know what to scream because it’s never felt this till…

NOW….you don’t even hear it…

No, it’s still there…she just chose to forget
In this stage of solitude, I did some research…

[luhv] noun, verb,
a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person
To have love or affection; be in love
_

There’s a monster in my room
It has sharp teeth
And it’s taller than my dad
He switches between under my bed
And closet in the corner
My dad checks both places
But doesn’t find anything
My mom says her good night kisses will protect me
Sometimes they work
But I still see him
I don’t know if he’s waiting to come after me
Or for me to come after him

Sometimes you have to do things
That you don’t want to
Like talk to a monster
You gotta grow up from the legos
The superhero action figures
And become a super hero yourself
Because
Super heroes can talk to monsters
The worst thing that could happen
Would be me getting eaten
Which would be sad…
But I already told that blonde girl
Who sits behind me in at school
That I thought she was cute in a note I passed her
I’m happy I got that out of the way

I see the monster
It’s looking and showing its teeth
But now there’s only one thing left to do
I’m gonna put on my cape and mask
Become a super hero
And face it
And be brave