I'm not home right now,
But I'll call you back as soon as I can.
(Well, technically, I am home
If you define a home
By four sides,
Windows,
Doors,
And rooms.
But I consider her to be my home,
My place of comfort,
And I cannot be at home
Until we are reunited.)
At the tone, please record your message.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never go home again.
My room will sit unused,
A capsule frozen in time,
A snapshot of how I was.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my dog again.
She will sit at the front door
Waiting for me and wondering,
Why I never came home.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never graduate from high school.
My yearbooks will sit stacked
Stopped short of their goal,
Missing years that should have been.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my mom again.
She will sit distraught,
Planning a funeral
For a child taken from her.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my friends again.
They'll sit together, missing me.
One empty seat among them,
A constant reminder of their loss.

If I die in a school shooting
I'll never see my little sister again.
She will sit through high school
Knowing I can't guide her through,
That she has to figure it out alone.

If I die in a school shooting
My school will be stained.
Pools of students lives will sit,
Blood tattoos on the brick structures,
Marks of death ground into it.

If I die in a school shooting
Everyone will wear black.
They'll send their thoughts and prayers
To a town marred by death,
Forever to be the home of a shooting.

If I die in a school shooting
Will the world change?
Or will I become one of hundreds  
Of kids who have to die?
What will it take?

If things continue this way
Children will have to live in fear.
They'll look over their shoulders
Always worried and wondering,
If they'll die in a school shooting.

I watched her through my glass door and my watery eyes
As she walked away from my porch
And got into her truck,
As she sweetly yet sadly smiled and waved
Before backing out of my driveway
Onto the dimly-lit night road.
I could still feel the soft kiss upon my lips she left me with;
I could still hear her voice in the truck singing some song about loving me until her dying day;
I could still see her eyes:
A sea of love;
An ocean of reassurance.
My love, everything will be okay.
I'll see you again when the colors change.

each time i glance in the mirror
i am shocked
that there does not appear to be
a gaping hole in my chest.
i cannot see it
but i can feel it
because my heart
no longer resides in my body.
it is where it belongs,
with the light of my life.
she
is three hundred sixty-five miles away

sometimes
it hurts so bad to close a chapter to your life that was so good
because there is the constant fear lingering in my mind
that maybe the next chapter won’t be as good
because when in my life will I meet another person like these people
because
sometimes
it’s hard to believe
that I could get that lucky twice

right after he cheated on me
i got my period
it came two weeks early
it seemed as if this was my body's way
of cleansing him from my system
i've never been happier
to get my period

It is late.
It is always late
and I wonder
how you are
and where -

It is late,
too late
and all I can do
is miss what I had
to leave behind.