i want to peel your skin back
and reveal your deepest sweetness.
to look at your veins
and memorize their paths.
maybe then i’d understand
why you are so rough on the outside.
it takes a lot of work,
digging your fingernails into the flesh,
pulling and pulling until you are bare.
but it is all worth it;
to visit your center,
to break past what conceals you,
and take you apart
slice by slice.

No love is true or false
Love is love
Same for all
Sacred and pure.

It is just that
Some people love and
some only pretend.

I met an old man
who spoke with such hesitance
all the world's meaning

I met a young girl
who spoke with such confidence
all the world's nothing

To speak of expertise
as if one does not know
seems to be a sign of experience

To speak of trifles
as if one surely knows
seems to be a sign of ignorance


And in both
the old
and the young
I see expressions of love

The young for her friend
the old for his daughter

And from both
the old
and the young
I hear tales of wisdom

a life well-lived
and a life to be lived


The old is experienced
yet I still find ignorance

For he knows his love
yet not his wisdom

The young is ignorant
yet I still find experience

For she knows her wisdom
yet not her love


The old takes shame in every treasure he has
and says such profound words

Inspiring lies refined from truths

The young takes pride in every trifle she finds
and says such profound words

Touching truths discovered through lies


The old man nods his head
and parts ways
knowing we will never meet again

The young girl shakes my hand
and parts ways
hopeful that we could meet again

Out of nowhere
a thought of you
will hit my mind,
like a poison dart.
I don't know what
triggers it.
Tonight, I think it's
the cold wind blowing
outside my window.
Or, it could be the
tangerine I just ate.
That sweet juice.
It doesn't last
though.
Gone in a flash.
Too small for a
lifetime together.
And I'm alone with
this bright orange pain,
vowing never to write
about you again.

She smiled,
but only barely,
like it was a secret she didn’t want
you to know.

And for a second,
it felt like the world
might not be so bad after all.