How is any of this real?
I see my hand and
I am perplexed!
How am I alive?
How do so many worlds
Ideas minds emotions
Opinions exist at once?
I can’t make sense of it.

Shall I make things
Easier and
Let convention swallow me?
Or shall I expand my understanding
To the waves of play
And see things as a game and
Expose
My tender flesh innocence
To sharp pointlessness
And still not make sense of anything?

You I ask me, “Do you have the time?”
You I ask me, “Is it mine?”
You I ask me, “Do you mind?”
You I tell me, “Give me a sign!”

Our color theme
rejoicement
in each other

we won't use names

it's this and this
and this and this

we'll show you all
with paints and
adornments

we'll point
and laugh
and laugh
to make you smile!

The golden tree offers hope,
and the night field welcomes the sleepless.
if we acknowledge the forest floor,
we will find our future path
and gold and silver
and beauty in our artificial lights.
in the details of the shadows,
we are blinded by the glares.
at the perfect angles, if we look just right
we can wonder
if balance should be the goal,
and if we should take the stairs one leg
and one stumble at a time.
If we sway with the gusts,
if we lay on our fronts,
if we feel the world around us,
its texture, its depth, its tactile reverence
and blur our ignorance of touch
out of reality
the details disappear
illuminate
the subjects submit
and pose for the moment
their value is recognized
their simplicity,
their essence
emerge,
envelop,
captivate,
trance,
in awe
of this evidence
can you imagine?

Are you not beautiful until someone tells you?
Are you not worth every chance of focus?

Attempt effortless existence,
Release your awe
fall where you lay
fall asleep as you blink.
Goodnight, all everlasting.

“Thou art forbidden,”
He said, pointing to
The ominous, looming giant of a Tree
So frightening, yet we feel hints of intrigue.
But no, no we are prohibited,
Fenced in by paradise,
Fenced out by fear.

So, in our young life,
We averted our eyes.
We hurried past the Tree,
Anxious to please,
Walking briskly to the Trees of Faith, Belief, and Fate,
Brittle and weak of trunk, but of pleasant leaves
That produces such a pleasant shade
From the glaring heat of the high sun

You and I gestured and gesticulated,
Attempting to justify which tree of the three
We should use as a home.
We grunted and groaned, shrieked and moaned our dispute
And, I, in a primal huff, stomped away
Eyes blinded by frustration.

I was wholly incapable
Of reason, of sight, of sound.
In a whirling state, I stumbled.
On a root of the magnificent
Forbidden Tree.
I gasped.
There.
The source of rebellion against
Everything He taught me.

Jaw set firm, fists clenched,
I marched up to the nearest offering
Defying condition, against instinct,
I lifted my hands.
I reached for the Forewarned Curse.

I bit into sin.
Its juice burst onto my tongue
I desperately and eagerly
****** the newly revealed flesh and
Realized bliss,
Passion, tragedy, and fury,
Oasis out of chaos.

How could I have thought that this was paradise?
What vice ignorance holds!
What horror forbiddance harbors!

Oh, oh, I can Feel
My hands,
I can Feel,
Think, and
See.
I can finally Be!
What exuberant joy!
I must share, share these astounding epiphanies!

The branch that saved me still bounces and shakes,
Deceivingly resembling a sort of snake.

Oh, my love, my universe,
I will save you, I will uproot you from stagnation.
For I am now
The Venue of Truth.

the top of your hair smells like the fire,
the bottom smells like the ocean
still damp, still damp

'it's all my fault'
that he writes again
maybe that's my purpose for him,
for i cannot be what he would like,
i cannot give what he would like
i can only be
and he happens to love me

we exchange white roses

and all is well between us

I distinctly remember
wearing mostly white when we were together
and it was clear I didn't want to wear white when we were separarted by 3000 miles
so I didn't
now I wear white happily and I wear pinks and greens and blues and purples all the time

an artist and a philosopher
a poet and a guide
time
for them is
both clear and confusing
confusingly clear
clearly confusing
what would it have been like if
they had been born in a different time?

I was talking to the stars one other night, and I asked,
“Why does anything exist?
It takes so much energy,
It's so much work for anything to exist.
It's not necessary for the oceans to teem,
For the trees to flourish,
For the birds to fly,
For the humans to love, hate, strive, and live.
Wouldn't it be easier for the universe to not exist at all?”

The stars laughed merrily and replied,
“And where would the fun be in that, you silly American?”

The sun's light overwhelms my senses.
My soul, my mind have become accustomed to
The Darkness of our secret world.

Empty pages waving at me
Filling my mind with hope
The illusion rushes over me
And I sigh with relief
At the opportunity
Sitting in front of me,
Resting in its own potential purpose,
My release and my peace,
The infinity of its ephemeral capacity.

Know that I love you more than ever before
Know that our souls smile together,
Wisely content with the other's existence.
Know that with every second's passing
I sigh,
Feeling within the deepest enclaves
Of my heart and mind,
That we have years and years
that we have yet to expect to have
To love each other.
If you are tired,
Rest.
You are strong enough to be content
Without me by your side.
When I come home,
When you and I meet eyes and
Release our tears and smiles
of relief and joy,
All that opposed our happiness and peace
Will
Fall
Away.

I love you,
And you love me.

Time apart neither negates nor emulates.
Time together is hearts' ecstasies.

I love you, universe.

Sarah

Even the Sun darkens
With sorrow
And hides under her fluffy, white covers
From time to time.

I have a body made of air
Hair of water
Skin of clouds
Flower eyes
Fingertips sip nectar
Lips stripped
Legs of refuge
Lungs of freedom
Blood of wind
Mind of sky
Mind in sky
Purity of existence