She is not a prize but that does not mean you should not prize her
Keep her heart on the mantle but light a fire beneath it to keep her warm and kind
Don’t keep her hidden like a secret she has already been bottled up her whole life
Show her off like a lottery ticket it was nothing more than luck that brought her into your life
This was not your own doing and you will do well to remember that
Give her a place to hide when the sun is too bright and the wind is too loud
But don’t treat her like a caged animal she does not belong to you
She is a canvas but you are not the artist and you do not touch her without her written consent
The right to decorate her body with your fingerprints or your kisses does not belong to you
Keep your hand outstretched to her at all times
She knows herself better than you do and she will take it when she needs it
When she cries don’t stop her and when she smiles smile with her
These are honest forms of communication so listen when she talks to you
Never yell at her she doesn’t deserve that
Don’t treat her like a child anymore her parents did enough of that
If she falls asleep first she feels safe whatever you do hold on to that
She is already scared of the ways she can hurt herself she doesn’t need to be afraid of the ways you can hurt her
And whatever you do don’t give her a reason to leave
She might think you want her to
*~W.C.

I have nothing to give, nothing to say.
My words are frail. My thoughts are stray.

I wonder what will happen to me
When all is said and done.
Though if anything does happen,
It will all go wrong.

I hate to rhyme, but this is how I feel,
Just empty enough to wonder what is real.

I have nothing to give, nothing to say.
But somehow, the lingering words can make me sway.

You are a rainstorm in an Arizona summer.
I don't know whether I should hide
Or bathe in you.

in the shutter of my camera.
in all the worn holes in my cardigans.
in the smell of your cooking.
in the sound of cutting strawberries.
in the turning pages of all the anthologies.
in the broken windows.
in the crumbled sheets.
in all the songs I hear.
in the place where you used to sleep.

That evening of  glowing leaves
The sweating sky oozed red ,
Shimmered in the mirroring
Pools of rainbow swirls.

The crazed earth,
Blast blown,
Crumbled finely.

Filtered through
Fragile fingers,
Wafer-skinned.

Dust to dust

Rising,

Rising to colossus clouds.

Till the killing breeze blew.

© Marcus Lane 2010