here is an anniversary letter
addressed to you
I think ours was last week
chances are this is past due
consider this my vow of affection
for what I write in these next 30 lines
will be my most sincere of words
even if I spoke a billion times

you are not the last thing on my mind
before I go to sleep
or the first thing
when I awake
I do not lust for you like Juliet
your Romeo I'll never be
but Romeo is dead
and I'm as happy as can be

I've loved before
and trust me it's no fun
constant musing about the future
how this one is really "the one"
it's a trial as old as
the woman who's teeth no longer function
love is love is love is...
love is much to do about nothing

and then I found you
with brown eyes and brown hair
simple as the letter k
eyes that looked but didn't stare
maybe you love me
although I hope you don't
maybe you'll think of marriage
although I hope you won't

In Conclusion
I'll bid you adieu
I am not in love with you
and that's what I love most about you

1659

Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.

Whose crumbs the crows inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the
Farmer’s Corn—
Men eat of it and die.

She was poised and quiet
Framed in the morning daylight
crashing waves
A fragile heartbeat
A gentle breeze
Behind her sadden eyes
The unfathomable depth of the
ocean
Torn and broken
Cast aside and abandoned
She put herself back together
Time and time again
She gave and she gave
While they only took and took
Not realizing the pain  
Yet she still gave
Still loved
Each time picking up her fragile body
harder and harder than the last

Then the day came upon her
When he saw her
Framed body against the setting sun
Hair tangled
Tears staining her pink cheeks
Walked to her
Kneeling beside her
As she gathered her shattered body

He helped to pick her up
Words never spoken
As they weren't needed
Took her hand
Helping her up
Wiped her tears from her cheeks

No longer would she need to reconstruct herself
No longer would she have tears
He was not one to break her
Nor take from her
He help her piece herself together
Protected her forever
Never to be hurt again
She would be loved and free to love
Her spirit is aglow
By the moon and stars at night
By the sun during the day

She is the one for me

Tap Thud Crunch Swish
an endless, fruitless search for that one word
the perfect onomatopoeia
to express the sound of footfalls on a mountain trail

But perhaps that is right
it is not a sound
it is a sound, a feeling, a smell, a thought
indistinguishable

United
United by lightness

Rapid sound of trainers touching earth
Feeling of strength, speed
Smell of sweat and crushed pine needles
Thought of invincibility, thought of lightness

Gone

The legs don't beat
they plod
muscles play games, giving a taste of lightness
just to show what you're missing

then pain. sick and slowly building
ball and chain
slowing
weighting

Stop.

But I need the lightness
need it more than air
more than water
more than food

more than food

Maybe, if they had less weight to carry
The legs would work again?

But who am I kidding
They'll never work
they don't deserve the fuel
the food

can't control the muscles
can't control the pain
can't regain the lightness

Need to find the lightness
won't eat until I do

My thoughts tread barefoot
across the terrain of words
that spill nonchalant from your lips.

So am I wrong to believe
that in between each breath you take
is a heaven made just for me?