barren canyon
echo-haunted walls
thirsty sand-blown dust

skeletal branches
stripped of life
sloughing-bark itch

shriveled snakeskin
crackles in disintegration
snagged on ancient sagebrush

but when her teardrop falls
the love buried in his desert heart
springs to unquenchable life

font springing from
the depths of a shallow pool

boiling with fervor
under glass-still surface

with effort i see i can see
through my own reflection

golden-bedrock streambed
red sand flowing downstream

and i know that this river
and my life are forever one

it was all very normal
until the pink elephant
walked in and whispered
in the prime minister's ear

when things calmed down
i walked up to the elephant
and while admiring his wings
i asked him what we all wondered

"i delivered the unfortunate news
that the arctic monkeys have all
finally frozen" he said with a smile
have you ever seen an elephant grin?

the wind left my chest with the sight
and blacking out i fell to the floor
the next thing i know i wake up
it's time for the next speaker

the blank page
scratched and scarred
by the pencil

the sharp pencil
sacrificing itself
to the page

the written page
does not feel tarnished
by the pencil’s residue

the dull pencil
does not feel diminished
by the loss of graphite

both page and pencil
when disfigured and destroyed
fulfill their potential

to walk the path of beauty
is not to shun ugliness
but to lovingly embrace it
until we can see
how beautiful it truly is

to walk the path of beauty
is not to hate the hateful
but to smile toward them
until they see their worth
in the reflection of our eyes