The days are going by
The birds still fly high
I'm getting pretty nervous
I'm not gonna lie
And all the birds cry,
"Don't take me away"
I promise I'll stay
I'll be a better person
Than I was yesterday
I promise to do my best
Maybe more but never less
With this pencil in hand
It's time to confess,
For you to know the rest
Of the life that I've been livin'
Your word has been given
That you won't harshly judge
The words I have written
With life I am currently smitten
And all the birds cry,
"Don't send me away"
I promise I'll stay
I'll be a better person
Than I was yesterday
At a faraway boarding school
I'll be confined to new rules
It's not something I want
But something you choose
Myself I won't lose
And all the birds cry,
"Don't send me away"
I promise I'll stay
I'll be a better person
Than I was yesterday
I promise to do my best
Maybe more but never less
With this pencil in hand
The time to confess
Is now.

That was quite some life she led
She thought she could be a superhero,
but from her wrists she bled
Through long nights she'd lay awake
staring at her bland white ceiling
A simple decision was hers to make
Knives, playing cards, or fingers?
Each provided a different sensation
And each left a mark that still today lingers
One night she was bored and wanted to fly
A boy named ** offered her the chance
To breathe something else and pass the time by
She left what she knew, her family and friends
And she stepped into a danger zone
creating for herself some unhealthy trends
She breathed what he gave her when she was told
He was something new, almost like her savior
This experience would not soon get old
Time passed slowly and soon she became
Two different people, one to parents, another to peers
The only thing shared was her name.


--unfinished

The hours go by slowly
My eyes are heavy with drugs
No one's around to see this
This hurt, this lying to myself
Please, can someone listen?
I'm finding myself underwater
In a cave where I can barely breathe
A quiet lucidity descends
And I rise
A pine tree lays fallen in a forest
The sky above is black
The air around is littered with a thousand lights
And a buzzing, pulsing
Alien electricity flows through my veins
The rhododendron leaves curve upward
The waterfall is throbbing
And I rise
A life force is hardly essential
In the ghostly barn on the second level
The tresses of her hair fall gently
No more ferns exist
The local bamboo stems from plastic bottles
Red mesh tape resides
And I rise
Pink combat boots melt in the fire
Rocks ring the mats
Wood and rice boil into each other
The old man's beard eats a mouse
Nails scratch a whiteboard
And I rise
Heya laddy, whatcha say?
We can't hear your songs
The red breasted robin weaves a nest
A broom loses its needles
And I rise
The train evades the tracks
White mesh bags float on the ocean
The flames are climbing higher
And I rise
Blue cherries are picked
Purple snails squirm
And I rise
I run up the driveway
And I rise

And I rise

Upon a mountain in some older days
there lived an aging dragon
He lived in a cave so near yet so far
that if could not be reached by wagon.
Now, the dragon guarded something so special
it was not yet known to you or me
So many before tried to find it
and none had succeeded, but that didn't
stop ol' Mack McGhee.
Ol' Mack was no thing of beauty
but he was strong in his middle age
He had a personality so greedy and cocky
that he really had no personal gauge.
He wanted what the dragon hid
though what it was, he did not know
So one fine day he set out on a journey
no preparations--he just wanted to go.
Well the first day was fine and so was the next
but on the third, he began to tire
So ol' Mack sat down in the dust and heat
and he made himself a fire.
He soon fell asleep under a sea of stars
seeing as the following day, he had to walk more
He'd get to the dragon, he knew he would
even though the walk was becoming a bore.
The next day he awoke to the blazing sun
burning his ugly face
So he arose and began to walk,
looking for a shaded place.
Ol' Mack pressed through the desert
and soon he came to the mountain
There was shade, it was an oasis
there was even water bubbling in a natural fountain.
He wondered if this was it,
"Is this what the dragon is hiding?
If this is it, it was far too easy.
My time I was certainly biding."
He decided it wasn't enough,
he'd have to climb to the top to find
the treasure that the dragon was hoarding
the very thing he couldn't keep from his mind.
So he climbed and he climbed for hours
and finally he reached the cave
"Oh, good," he thought, "I can finally rest.
I feel like I've been climbing for days."
"WHO GOES THERE?" boomed the dragon
"It is I," answered Mack, "I've come to get your treasure!"
"The thing that I guard is behind that rock," said the dragon,
"I'm not sure it's treasure by your measure."
"I'm sure it is," said Mack
and he ran behind the rock
What there he saw was so simple and plain
that it came as quite a shock.
Behind the rock on the wall of the cave
was the phrase "Be impeccable with your word."
"That's it?!" exclaimed Mack, "there has to be more.
I came all the way just for that? This is absurd."
"That it may be," said the dragon, old and wise
"but it's a phrase to be held true by sinners.
And now, because you are one of them,
I must eat you for dinner."
And he did.

And so are my eyes
The ash is white, the fire black
Flames offer a silent scream
Hurricane winds radiate light
And a dust of powdered sugar petrifies the desert
Quickly, and mysteriously
Not much to do but a lot to learn
The turkey flies on scattered wings
No offense made but
Much is taken
Phantom letters state their presence
Poplar burns in the sun
Prickly pears sparkle red
      and
The moon lets go of her compass, passing
it on to another
Flying above all
Shooting bullets toward purple blue skies
Notebook in one, pen in another
Falling through steam
Crashing to dry, cracked earth
Saguaro stands in a forever wave
Blackened mountains singe the backdrop
Red purple brown rocks form deepest
Canyons of collective consciousness
                                    Feed a bright blood river below.

There's a certain rhythm in the trees
that stands out to only me
The wind makes the tall trees sway
And a ghostly mandolin plays
A simple song for those around
Minds tick and heartbeats pound
The fire that flickers is so profound
Upon the red dirt mound.
The rocks whisper their silent prayer
The flames dance, their intentions bare
The stars walk in a natural circle
It seems like they're hoping for some sort of miracle
A simple dance for those around
Minds tick and heartbeats pound
The fire that flickers is so profound
Upon the red dirt mound.
They say to always follow the drinking gourd
You'll be heading home, rest assured
Sun and sky will lead the way
This is your life now, come what may
A second chance for those around
Minds tick and heartbeats pound
The fire that flickers is so profound
Upon the red dirt mound.

"maybe We just shouldn't be together,"
She said jokingly.
the look of pain that crossed His face was brighter than a fresh slap.
He turned away from Her
and didn't speak.
He knew She was joking, but still
He was hurt.
in fact,
She was hurt.
the moments that followed were misery.
She knew, in that instant after He turned
away
that He was the one.
Her heart spiraled downward,
into the black hole
that was Her loneliness without
Him.
She had never felt more empty in Her
entire life
than in those few moments.
Her fingers, suddenly wandering,
traced the curve of His spine,
gently lining each vertebrae.
"Come back,"
She whispered softly.
He rolled over to face Her
and He took Her face in His hands.
He looked her dead in the eye
and They kissed,
long sweet and true.
She had never felt
more full.

Tears flood her eyes
And roll down her cheeks
She feels the ground
So steady beneath her feet
She glances up
As a soft wind blows
The sky is so cloudy
But suddenly she knows
If she's come this far,
then why stop now?
She wants to start living
As much as life will allow
She never planned
To see the day after
That big rite of passage
A time supposed to be full of laughter
She's getting too pensive
She's thinking too hard
This life is hers now
It's time to play the card
That life has dealt
She'll live to see the day
To see the day after
Her eighteenth birthday.