Oh, what blossoms from dark earth have I found?
Tis but a flower, growing in the sun.
Refracting light casts rainbows on the ground
and I ask what contains more beauty? None.
        
A stem of glass, as fragile as a heart,
from which its petals of pale crystal grow.
Seem they to smile, when tears of joy do start
within my eyes. True bliss, at last, I know.
        
Yet when, with longing, I extend my hand
the shadows loom and terror grips my soul.
Though peaceful my intent, no malice planned,
I know my touch must surely take its toll.
        
So here I stand, gazing down at the earth,
aware myself judged of little worth.

I burnt down the metal cage
that confined me

I have broken up with God
and I am blossoming

without his hand pushing
my head down

I eat blackberries straight from
the bush

tasting the dirt where they grew
the tightest bud bursting

into fruit that nurtures me
that sustains me

I am Godless and cageless
I am a woman of

flames, starting fires
wherever I go

burning, burning, turning
into ash

into the very dirt I courted
with my purple stained

lips

A square of paper, plain as ****** snow.
A fold, a crease, potential now began.
Life stands anew, now given room to grow,
as something forms beneath the will of man.

Wings skyward seek and, touching brightest blue,
take flight to traverse freedom’s great unknown.
Wherever life’s desires to roam hold true
a paper bird best shows how hope is sown.

Yet now my flock, one thousand strong, is made,            
so many scraps of paper now transformed,
I regret the theft of hope now grayed,            
forgotten as the lost potential stormed.

Now hope and freedom are but empty words
I lay before a flock of lifeless birds.