prove my hypotheses: tell me you don't love me.

http://artsites.ucsc.edu/sdaniel/230/Relational%20Aesthetics_entire.pdf

i spent the last weekend waiting in anticipation. each morning i woke up with a hope—a plethora of possibility that faded with the setting sun.

i suppose i wouldn't have it any other way.

f. ell

i remember your words:

"someday, with someone".

not so much the shoreline, i think

Here's a brief analysis of my own work...

We depend on that which is faraway—and we become cold for the wanting of it.

While you are physically "leaning against my shoulder", you feel to be leaning against the "dawn": leaning against something remote and faraway. That's what's hindering our relationship; we've lost our closeness.

That's why the hills are "sunken". That's why it's a "bunker", not a cottage or cabin.

Hence my injuries. Hence my lack of "peripheral vision": I could never quite make out what you were reaching for.

I just read Woody's poem (https://hellopoetry.com/poem/2582994/blunt-ed-beaks-and-clip-ped-wings-or-the-ugly-blackbirds-who-always-know-better-than-the-rest/ ) and realised that Vicki, a dear friend and constant supporter of mine, was compelled to delete her HP account as a result of harassment. I am terribly saddened by this occurrence, especially seeing as this site has been a wonderful environment for me to grow as a poet and post my work. I would like to respectfully ask Eliot and the moderators of HP to look into this and prevent any such events from ever happening on this site again. It's also the responsibility of us community members to help keep this a safe, supportive, and loving space. We must exercise our joint responsibility: stop harassment and bullying; stand up for what's right. And Vicki: I miss you.

you wore four layers today.

i have only one: but it opens up, unleashing my heart, every time you stop by.

f. ell (always)

ellie?

nature is just an expression of her.
(f. ellie)

e.r.
you-opened-my-heart-i-folded-the-page-with-your-name

for m.f.

I structurally designed this poem so the first line of each stanza is the shortest, and each successive line gets longer. The stanza lengths also decrease by one each time.

for m.f.

i found something when we were apart.

she'll show you the answers

I'm tired of time

on a rainy day, the smell of lemongrass is like the warmth of your memory.

For Nori, a dog, a sister.

(I don't like to say "my dog" because that connotes a power hierarchy with necessary roles of ownership and possession. I'd rather conceive of her in egalitarian terms).

Anyway, she always finds me when I'm down; she knows when I'm not feeling right, and she's always there for me. She's the only love I ever need.

ways)

i wrote this as a progression: from a jumble of words to a depiction of an image. Rather like the rain itself, I think.

and ellie: I imagine you as a patch of colour in the rain.

the crossroads is where i kept my composure.

where you—oh, sweet you—looked up at me.

I think I realise something for the first time:

you're a person I've never met,
but whom I've seen a thousand times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOWDq-g5Tto

"sunlight through the leaves" ♥

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/notself2.html

it's nice to think of loving you again

"I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in".

'Circle' as a symbol for balanced aesthetic reflection, dispassionate observation—in Woolf's jargon, the state of the "incandescent" mind.

'Circle' as a symbol for everything that poetry can never be. Everything that I can never embody.

I'm sorry, Virginia. You're not as embittered as I am.

This is a feeble attempt at reconciliation.

a feeling i get after a walk with melody and leaves.

you always looked so ethereal, underwater.