There she is Mrs. America.
Glistening for you all
With her torch, tiara, and title.

Wave for her, I know she'll find a cure.
Look how she brought us here
To smile and tremble in final awe.

See she walks and see her pretty locks.
Look how she tends the flocks
Of children less mothers who beat the odds.

Share her fears, her intimate details.
No longer a strangers shell
Know why for her this is so real.

She and I know limits above the sky.
Tenacious and set so high,
A feeling of mutual time gone by.

Feel her pride, feel it from inside.
It no longer, no it doesn't have to hide.
She's changing the world stride by stride.

What good is a rib cage
That only holds a wooden heart?
Scalpel in hand you are Geppetto
To my marionette bones.

Snapping out of place
These tin man joints come loose for you.
With my cogs and spindles strewn about,
I hired a man to clean up your mess.

My diaphragm was made trampoline,
My ligaments turned silly putty,
He's heard of your capable hands.
Spinning cobwebs for lungs,
He made room for compulsory expansion.

I thought he was benefiting us but
Now I bleed grapevine.
My eyelids are sunflowers,
My cheeks lemongrass.

He has taken root and spread.
He wants me to reject your soil
And replace it with his own.

He's a breed far different from yours.
My curves, now rhododendron,
Are soft and tender.

They welcome rain with a slow deep sigh.
What was once wire and conduit
Is now a gently blooming garden.

Feeling raw and wrung out
The humidity hangs heavy.
When one anniversary's healed
Another takes its place.

Death of a parent,
Eclipsed by the death of a friendship.
Death of a cousin,
Eclipsed by the death of my organs.

I'm shedding skin again
As another challenge begins.

A loved one leaving the country,
My heart is traveling outside my body.
My inner child sees the world
Through the ones I love.

This proxy tethers thin
Through the heat and dust.
My heart is not enough shield,
As my loneliness craves release.

Infiltration always starts small.
You get a plan, plans change
And you work with what you get.

Sometimes you slip.
Someone spots a trigger switch
Peeking out of your pocket.
Plaid becomes a nucleic time bomb.

All radioactive wool
Full of flare and inch thick cuffs.
Hemmed by hand and covered with patches.
Each one detonating a different city.

Sitting quietly and unsuspecting
In the parking lot.
Dodge, Chrysler, and Volvo militaries,
Wait comfortably in line
With books & instruments
Miles from home.

Sometimes God walks in and
You know you're in trouble.
Caught by your bravery
And lack of Hail Marys.
You try to protect your victim from
Over exposure to the sun beating in your chest.

With a smile like the Moon you engage him.
Testing who smiles wider, you or God..
Your subjects like flowers,
Relishing in the light,
Gaze intensely mesmerized
At the sight of this silent war you've waged.

As of today
My friends no longer have rights.
Their lives are not protected by
The state constitution.

Their civil liberties gone
Because of weak men.
Because of weak women who
Protect cowardly men.

They say, "We'll all die someday"
And shrug their shoulders.
As if it's out of their hands
When they've calculated this.

They wait til midnight hours
To pass criminal bills.
They bury our futures in the
Small print of 'lesser' concerns.

The world is screaming
And my heart is heavy.
This is day one.

I wasn't ready,
And like all things restless
It captured my attention.
Puzzle pieces fit together so well
When they have to.

Like a bailiff warranting a confession,
Anything's possible.
I'm stretched thin across the
Map of my responsibilities.
Strangled by sweaty sheets,
I surrender to these symptoms.

Parallel lives are born
As days blend into hallucination.
I want myself back.
I want Christmas lights and
Hardwood floors that warm me.
Where things slow down and songs are
Written in great attics of love.

These pieces of my forgotten history
Breathe life into my cells,
For better or worse.
Fighting between unconscious
And self conscious, I'm left waiting.

How long I've waited to make sense of this.
I need more than the promise of tomorrow.
In this body both worlds collide
In a miasma of sweat.
Even my dreams are hot to the touch.

Size up your lover for me.
Elated and bouyant,
I bet they wax electric in your eyes.
It's not a surprise that I'm a mess again.
I whisper secrets into origami
Hoping they bring you back to me.
Remember all those nights we loved?

With paint brush arms we
Painted pastel sunsets.
The morning became a Picasso
We hung up to dry.
With fingers stitched together
We had hang overs for breakfast.
DIY and so beautiful,
It still lifts a storm.

We owls are pretending to be
Wise with our fate.
Those good old days are
Best left declawed.
Let the hanged man have his whiskey slur.
I miss your tigers' eye
Casting sparks under my pillow.

Let me offer you,
Stubborn and sensible,
A wild recalesence.
I am as useful as a unicorn
In the mess of leftovers paradise.
Holding a sign saying welcome home.