Her cheeks golden apples
Voice a hushed whisper
She smells like coconut Coppertone and sunshine
Her cotton candy lipgloss is sticky on my lips
Tanned skin salty from the surf
Smooth and soft like a puppy’s belly
Blonde hair sun-streaked, warm
Stomachs flip-flopping with teen-crush happiness

Gotta go…
Why?
I know.
Hate it though.

So we linger
To watch the surf swallow the sun

No poetry today.
No words for the despair.
No calming the fears.
No poetry today.

Ephemeral is life
Insecure is its tenure
Like the breath of a buffalo
In wintertime, it roars and gone
Like shadow, it is gone with sunset
Like flower, it fades away
Like grass, it withers away
Life, a flash of a firefly!

I
                            am
                              a
S
   H
      A
         P
           E
S
  H
     I
       F
         T
            E
               R
                
                                  My
Bones b e n d at my will
Today I will create the most powerful
Unstoppably brave truly wise creature the          world has ever had the privilege to gaze upon.
I will call it
                       T H E Y

if i write you
will you love me
if i kiss you
will you kiss back
if i hurt you
will you leave me
if i break you
will you find happiness again

dont give me your heart
because i am clumsy
and i will likely drop it
then step on it
and not even realize what i've done

i am waiting for my coffee
i am the old couple eating pastries
with their chairs turned towards the window
i am the wafting scent of musk and amber
i am the bright magenta trees lining route 240
blooming in april while it rains
i am the veiny hands i know nothing about
except that i wish they would touch me
i am gulping down the foam
tasting the bittersweet memories on my tongue
the ones that have yet to happen
i am remembering what it means to have teeth
to feel so different, so distant
but entirely the same