you are sun-kissed and your kisses feel like sunshine
you have freckles like constellations on your skin
you turn my words into un-writable feelings

and i'm not sure if i hate it
but i sure do
love you

sometimes it's tiring
to sit and listen
to our friends
who talk about labels
labels of clothing
labels of people
labels and labels
silly names for what
they want to be known for
hipster
geek
or
prep
but what do these labels serve?
the greed for attention?
our eyes drawn to
their facebook pages
their clothes
their hair and their
make up
but do we really see them?
we're blind to the souls
and overlook the spirits
of our peers
with selective sights
we look on the surface
and judge what we see
to be what they are

folding laundry with you

singing don't let me down

and you know

i never will,

but those words look lovely

on your lips.

i guess you've got to watch out
when you're spreading your young
wings
or be carried by wicked winds
to places you'd never want to be.

*if you are flying
keep trying
or you will find your wings
broken on the ground

fires raging through fields and forests alike

the colours of mother's faith

second growth sprouting, life out of ashes

the living proof of mother's love

waterfalls crashing down the face of the earth

the sound of mother's tears

leaves caught falling through the sky in autumn

the cast wishes of mother's children

sun rising in the east and setting in the west

*the proof of mother's devotion

the feeling of freedom when walking on empty asphalt avenues
&
how the dew sets upon grass like stars glittering in the sky.

nobody ever said
hey, let's be friends
when i sat by the fence
and did equations in my head
of how numbers formed
so perfectly
but i couldn't tell them
what it meant to me

nobody ever said,
hey, you're not bad
when i listened to the tress
in my fort out there
in the school yard
with moss tangled
with grass
in my hair

nobody ever said,
i promise you now,
that you'll be so lucky,
your parents will allow
your love to be honest
and open to trust
you can love who you want
and that is enough

nobody ever said
hey, you didn't do wrong
when i grew up nervous
and left home before long
to cross over that sea
and live over there
nobody ever said,
hey, girl, i care

nobody ever said
hey, girl, it's okay
your daddy is long gone
and your mom's here today,
crying all night long,
but earth asks you to stay
and live out you life girl,
it's brighter each day

We are all puzzles
- incomplete -
with no photograph on the box
to help us.

take and take and take
but give me one last shot
my arms are open
wider than the globe

breathe and breathe and breathe
then exhale all your doubt
for it was always
the second-guesses
that pushed you away

lie and lie and lie
but tell me your honest truths
*and i will never
forsake you

she lived as a wave crashes over the salty
shore. rolling so very quick across obstacles
scattered across the seabed of life. tumultuously
pushing her way to the promise of safety
on the warm, dry sand.

her hands and knees were calloused
with the marks of thousands
upon thousands of barnacles
but these hands retained a tenderness
only a long-time lover of the sea could posses
after years of salt watered skin.

sometimes when the waves would roll
she would get through the storm by dreaming
of when it would finally crest
and she would fall into sweet release
and temporary recession.

she was plagued with the promise,
or the ever-pressing hope that one night
the scars would vanish and she
would ride the tide without fear of crashing
hard against the rocks.

she didn't mind the weather but the troubling
memory of the storm and the wailing
winds of her past echoed in her ears. she wished
to be a stream that could wash
away when the rain stopped falling.

a seafarer must survive any storm
to be successful in their endeavours
and though she may lose herself in the sea of time
she will soon again wash up onto the safety
of the salty seashore.

sometimes, when the seasons change
we change with them

in summer i am flowing and free
my worries wash away with the tides
and i am comfy in my long dresses
that reach down to my ankles
and get soaked in the salty sea

in fall i feel alright and all
i am drowsy but don't want to sleep
the crunches of leaves beneath my feet
are enough to make me smile
on the way to dinner at the church hall

in winter i keep warm in a sweater
given to me from a blonde boy,
jasper, a best friend and a lover
when we sit in cedar trees high above the snow
and watch the waves that make us feel better

in spring i shed the skin
of the year and all the days
i shared with all those people i love
but i keep the sounds and sights in my heart
and remember as i breathe in

sometimes, when the seasons change
we stay a little bit the same

thoughts focus... finite and infinite realities
  walking on beach tidal wave sand patterns
cold wind caressing hands full of seashells
stay right here
in this moment
for now.

why is my memory finite?
i'm so sick of having to remove
old files of people and places
in my head to make space for
all this newer knowledge.

in just one day, i've forgot
the names of three people who
i recently spoke with. some of
my french has gone out the
window and i think that soon
i will lose it all.

i am envious of the person
who has a photographic
memory with limitless card
space. please, oh please,
let me upgrade.

It’s late and it’s foggy and you know
You can’t see **** through that window
But you’re driving fast.
My paranoia is kicking in
And my head is about to implode
With worry.
I grab ahold of the car seats
And stare at the road more than you ever would
As if I could prevent us from crashing
If your eyes didn’t see what mine thought they saw.
Maybe I never learned to be spontaneous.
Maybe you’re the daredevil,
And I’m the old lady who never leaves her house.
And you know that I want you to know
That I understand the beauty of the night,
How the dew sets upon the grass like stars sit up in the sky,
And I want you to know
That I embrace the feeling of freedom on empty asphalt avenues
But this whole automobile thing really throws me off.
I want you to know that I have night terrors about things
Just like this.
I want you to understand me when I say slow down,
Because I can’t help but be overcome by the images
Of our could-be deaths.
Please.
Read my body language, no,
Don’t take your eyes off of that road.
I’m tense and I’m not usually this bad
But when I’ve grown up explaining a death by
Telling people he crashed in a car,
I know that I don’t want that to be our fate.
So just listen. Listen to me when I beg you,
Slow down.

free falling across the dark end of the room and my limbs sprawl out from my body and your fingers tremble and your eyes are staring still and what has overcome you now?
you made me up and grew me and you know i recognize the bruises marked out on my legs but i do miss you.
and even though you took yourself away from the picture, away from the world and away from me, i do love you, whoever you may be.

come back
come back
come back

i need a father.

lean of limb
broad of wing
standing in a mirror
breathing in the wind

looking for a lover
only one in life
nestled with each other
sleeping before flight

talking to you,
but not seeing
your face,

is like hearing a song
but not understanding
the words.

in this there is beauty,
but like the song unknown,
the meaning is missing.

And with you I've felt so much,
I've felt afraid, and through my
fear I have learned how to feel
brave. We stood on great heights
and did not stumble off, but
stood strong on the very top of
everything we knew. You showed
me how to love, how to live, and
with you my laughter left creases
in my face when I had smiled so
often. We ticked off that list of
adventurous things, and added
more items each day. We built a
relationship upon happiness, upon
youth, upon discoveries and things
well known. We were young; we
are young, and forever will be
smiling. At first, and at last, you
were something fascinating,
something different. And what
was the most different, was that you
really were. You stayed real, yourself,
an individual to look up to, to dream
of, to love forever.