She can’t communicate
Her mother never taught her how
Or how to open up
How to actively be the person she is
So she talks and laughs
Giggles and cries
Although tears never quite seem to come…
At least not when someone, anyone else is there                
To see
Or help or comfort
Or even just empathize
Those stopped back in the fourth grade
Back when boys had cooties
And you weren’t invited to birthday parties
Because the other girls thought you were a witch
Or smelly
Back in the fourth grade
When little Amber Gibbs became the most popular girl in school
And took her best friend away
And told Andrew Moretz all about her crush on him
And he never would talk to her after that
That’s when she stopped crying in front of people
Or at least people who mattered
Tear are a sign of weakness
And everyone knows in middle school
If you see weakness in someone
Then exploit it
Cause if everyone’s laughing at them
They’re not laughing at you
And that’s what matters
So she learned
The hard way, but she learned
That others are mean
Not even moms can be counted on
And her diary
That book of blank paper
Just inviting, ready to listen
Became her best, and then her only friend
Her diary was the only one who listened
Sometimes she made believe
It was her older brother
Still born before her
To whom she wrote
Make believing he actually cared
About the wants and petty problems
Of a 14 year old girl
With her head in the clouds
But her heart in a lock box.

Gray-blue eyes stare deep—
Soft as velvet, cold as rain—
Looking for reason

Dawn comes with a tinge.
Gray is pushed away for blue;
Clouds scuttle across eyes.

Forbidden Love
Creeping, quiet
Secret meetings in hidden corners
Shhh! They’ll hear…
Silent, desperate embraces
Whispered words,
Pounding hearts.
Footsteps!
Sink deeper into shadows
Deeper…
Hidden…
They fade.
Is it safe?
The moment passed
Too many interruptions, too many demands.

Emerge from darkness
Cast off the shadow blanket
Frustrated, unsatisfied
Head check, right… left…
Moving together
Closer, closest.
One last, lingering kiss
Goodnight.

Easy, up and catch!
Easy, up and catch!
Feel the boat glide
Long, smooth, graceful
Then slowly, easy
Catch!
Drive the knees towards the deck
Swing into the bow
Feel the boat Jump!
Squeezing the shoulder blades
Quiet, relaxed
Deep, dark puddles
Then relaxed, slowly, easy
Catch!
Everyone together
Exactly the same
Moving, gliding the shell forward
Towards the finish line
Ten strokes left!
Five!
One, last, powerful drive…
One, smooth, clean exit…
The bow breaks the finish line
You collapse
But you won!

Standing, studying
Soaking in the atmosphere all around
I close my eyes.
Inhale deeply…
Don’t you smell it?
Millions of lives; the world is so full of life!
Ants, carrying home dinners ten times their size,
Fish bubbling around the streams,
New grass making its first leap towards the sun –
Everything struggling against everything else.
This is the magical dance of life.

*Don’t you dance?

Evening fell
Soft as a black velvet curtain.
A mild breeze played around the trees
And ruffled our hair.
I'd just met you
Roaring in I came
You with your guitar
Came to welcome me at the dock,
To invite me to sit
To listen and laugh
To forget, for some small time,
That small's the only time I have.
You strummed
We talked
About small, insignificant things
And laughed
There was much laughter that night.
I strummed a few chords
Hesitantly accepting the audience
Laughingly bemoaning my inability to play
Later, we talked of life
of stupid teachers
strange students
the quirks of this world in which we live.
We threw watermelons
joking together as the stars grew more pronounced over head.
Moments of comfortable silence,
A fitting prelude to the night's end.

The roaring, crashing
Running over rock ledges

A turbulent mass
Blue-green rainbows of color
Nature's own wonder

Tiny tinkling sounds
Mini-streams overflowing
Down the mountainside