Elbows on table
wood grain holding too much
face in your hands
without noises
no sobs, no sighs
no anything.
Your posture sharp
demonstrating my flaws
displaying no one's triumphs
speaking in strains
and voids between
our thoughts.

I bring you tea
place the mug on that
overwhelmed table
with no response.
Outside the air moves
the broken wind chime.
My head turns,
the legs of that
dumb chair we
bought at an estate sale
scrape against the floor
as you push away
from the table.
I see your back as
you walk through
the door.
And those elbows
that sat on the table.

You have big eyes
and beautiful, beautiful souls.
You have unending joy
that explodes out of your movements.
Your fingers and perfect and
look like cute little potatoes.
You laugh at my jokes and
I laugh at yours.
We are silly together
and we make blanket forts.
We put on plays that
have no story.
You fill each day with
a happiness only siblings
can bring.
I care for you so much
and I know you feel the same.
You are my best friends
and all four of us, someday
will be together and
join in the biggest, best
group hug ever seen.
I miss you everyday and
I love you everyday,
that's for sure.
Can't wait to meet your
beautiful hearts
and be together forever.

Taken to the Rock,
an unknowing sacrifice,
Fathers should protect,
not aggress and ****,
but when he follows,
and agrees to the plan,
eternity is in place.

you buttons pop loose
speaking of things
they could not hold.
fibers of being,
war and peace,
death and faults
and the weight
of existence.
sew it back on
but these worldly
thimbles do nothing
to protect skin
from humanity.

park your thoughts
in a book-
blank with no
bias not even
lines to skew
where you ideas land.
show it to no one,
but to everyone.

Your canvas backpack
carries books and
stories too heavy.
It is stained with
ink and coffee,
you're not sure how.
You toss is on the ground
and look for it
when it's under your bed.
You reattach it to
your shoulders
and the straps whine.
Let someone else carry it.
Just for a bit.
Just for a bit.

A heaviness in her fingertips
kept her always off balance
she watched her weight
but not the burdens
which, she found,
add up when you
aren't paying attention.