Good teachers teach that
to each his own lessons learnt
at times too, unlearned

The East also teaches
one cannot lose the teacher  
til lessons are learned

Also, when the student
is ready - a teacher appears
one stores it for years

Blessed the teachers
students and pathways
with truest minds uprear

Scattered light
mottles through the rank of trees
reigning over the aisle between fields
in royal stainglass arcs of protection.
The wheat is young and green
though stretches tall enough to dance under the influence of wind's song
and conceal
scurrying mouse, hare
and proud breasted pheasant
from hunters gun and farmers dog.
No echoed shots ring out today
only the call of birds
seeking twig and thistledown
to weave chalice cupped homes
high up in the throne of trunk,
out of view
from all but the few
who come to seek solitude.

I had no filter
I said what
I was thinking
Like I was talking
To my walls
I ran in messy
Spoken circles
With no
Conclusions
No concise plan
No destination
And you, you
Followed my
Footsteps
And thanked me
For the walk
You'd never seen
Such scenery

If you can't see
anything beautiful about yourself
get a better mirror
look a little closer
(I see my big blue eyes lol)
but just
stare a little longer
because there is something inside you
that made you keep trying
despite everyone who told you to quit
you built a cast around your broken heart
and signed it yourself
you signed it
"they are wrong"
For only you
will ever know your worth
so stare a little longer
because
"they are wrong"

As perfectly okay as it is to go with the flow,
I'll grow upside down,
Color outside the lines,
And explode like a mighty oak filled with paint,
Struck by lightning from the ground up.

Why do people always look to fix what is broken?
Stalled vehicles still rotate and tilt
On the Earth's axis,
Thousands of miles an hour,
And I still work,
Worthy of trips around the sun,
So please don't scrap me at the first sight
Of what you see as failure.

I'll grow upside down.

slicing the surface of your sun kissed
face, i used to nurture each grain and
crevice that decorated your profile,
now i have created the insecurities
that dig through your hard skull and
crumble your layered state of mind,
only for me to sell your pure love
to the fairer man. at the time your
prostituting was said to bring me
wealth and status, but i now sit here
in shame as you have been *****
beyond repair. although i deserve
not a gram of forgiveness, i hope
my patriarchy and greed does
not undermine my apology

-t.m