i felt the great lake in the summer time
i swam beneath her depths
her currents rushed beneath my feet
the upwelling water refreshed.
i knew the great lake in the winter time
i walked across frozen waves
i saw her ice and destruction
her chill took all i gave.
i never met her in October
when her shores were cooling down
the west winds glazed over her churning surface
surrounded by orange, then red, then brown.
the world around her was dying
but she was coming alive
excitedly, she slammed the pier
warning all to step aside.
sand whipped across the naked beach
but now my body was not bare
i was protected by an autumn sweater
and i learned from the springtime wear.
we rode our bikes through forest dunes
the sun snuck through the departing leaves
the last remnants of summertime fell to the ground
air whistled through the trees.
nothing can last forever
no matter how sweet, how pure, how true
there is a time when it ends and falls to the ground
and waits to become anew.
the lake must let go of her summer guests
and spend the winter alone
the trees must release what holds them down
and with freedom they may grow.
i sit here holding onto something i loved
even though it is no more.
my fingers still gripping onto the strings of the past
like waves afraid to leave the familiar shore.
maybe i can learn from the autumn lake
maybe i can be like the trees
maybe i can release what holds me down
and step out into the chilling breeze.
it scared me once to be alone
to face the world with no one by my side
but when i let the cold air hit my face
i felt a tingling sense of pride.
we cannot fear what we do not know
we cannot live if we do not let go
a seed is afraid to fall on the frozen ground
but in the springtime, she will grow.

a crowded space
words, some precious, thrown into oblivion
while the smell of cheap bar and clear *****
littered the air
i saw her look at you
and i saw you smile back
and it took me back to one day
in a similar space
years ago
when i was happy and drunk and i thought that you put the stars in the sky
it was how you looked at me
when we woke up in your twin-sized bed
lifted up and feeling high.
it was a time before
i screamed at you on the sidewalk.
it was years before
i sat on a bus of strangers
and pulled my sunglasses over my eyes
so none of them could see my cry.
it seems like a split second ago
when you said you loved me for the very first time
and i said it back
but i already knew i loved you
when we stood at the top of the highest hill
and watched the sunset over lake Michigan.
i knew that i loved you
when we got lost in the woods
and as darkness swallowed us in an unfamiliar place
i felt my body light up
because i had you.
what ended a long time ago
what feels so distant to me
i thought maybe it all didn't matter.
at least not anymore.
i felt like i was getting better.
but when i saw her
i felt like sinking into the filthy cement floor
and when i woke up in the morning
the hangover hit me
but not as hard as the realization that you have moved on
and i am still stuck
wondering how the ******* can still do this to me.

sometimes i want to rip up every photo of us
other days i tape it all back together.
i almost deleted your number last week
but then i didn't.
i almost did.
i deleted our conversations
released them into the technological oblivion
of past lovers
and empty words
and feckless attempts at reconciliation.
i wished i could remember it all one last time
just as it happened,
before it was soiled.
forgetting you is not linear.
there is no formula i can use
and no numbers i can crunch
to heal.
it's advances and retreats.
good days
and days where
the walls are closing in as i am watching you run farther away.
two weeks ago i kissed a new boy
i felt happy and free.
last night i cried myself to sleep
because i realized your scent no longer lingers on my pillow.
it doesn't get better each day.
sometimes it gets worse.
sometimes it gets terrible.
and sometimes i cry in the car when i am driving home from work.
but it gets better each time it gets good.
each speck of light i let in
eventually will turn into a flood.
i know the darkness will keep coming back
but one day there will be no more room for it all.

one day someone will walk into your life just at the right time
and you will think that all of your unanswered questions
are answered
and that all of your loose ends
are *******
and that all of your fears and worries
will go away.
you will be wrapped up in their arms and you will feel warm
safe,
complete,
whole.
you will unknowingly put their happiness
before yours
and they will
take and
take and
take
and you won’t even notice
and you will think it’s all okay
because you will think while
they are taking parts of you,
they are giving you parts of them as well.
and maybe they are.
but one day
after it’s been a long time
and after they complete your thoughts
and after they know your biggest secret
and after they know how you like your coffee
and they have memorized your wardrobe
so they know when you buy a new shirt
you will find out that they weren’t giving you all of them.
you will find out that you have run yourself dry
and they are still standing tall
and so little of you is inside of them
that they can walk away and they can be sad for a moment
but they can forget about you.
you will be left wondering what went wrong
and you will want to go back to them
because it is the only thing that you know
and you have forgotten that once,
before they walked into your life,
you were okay.
you were fine.
you were happy
and not sad
and not missing them
or anyone for that matter.
there will be days and nights
when you are so sad that you can’t get up from your bed
and there will be times when you look at yourself and only see him
and there will be moments when you feel the entire world crashing down and there will be seconds when the world seems to stop spinning.
but let me tell you this-
one day, you will be okay again.
not because you found someone else to complete your thoughts
or know your favorite things,
but because you realize that you can do all of this on your own.
you can write your own sentences
and you can experience things without someone by your side
and making you think that you need them in order to truly be happy.
first ,you will be sad.
you will be sadder than you have ever been
and you will write in your journal
and listen to depressing music
and feel like you can’t move on
and like you can’t be alone.
but one morning you will wake up
and he won’t be the first thing you think of.
one night you will go to sleep
and appreciate a bed all to yourself
and not wish that he,
or anyone else,
was there too.
one day you will see who you are
and what you can do
and how little you need someone else.
one day you will not give yourself away to someone
and you will keep it all within you.
one day you will be okay.
one day.

The first time it happened
you were a typhoon.
You crashed against my shores with no warning
and no prediction.
The levy was broken.
I was thrown into your gusts,
your rains
and I felt the full force
of your destruction.
I waited for your storm to pass
but a grey fog
blocked my sun for months.
and when the skies cleared up again
I walked down the streets I thought I knew
and stared at crumbled foundations
your brokenness,
your pernicious wake.

The second time it happened,
you were a thunderstorm.
Thunder boomed
lightening struck
and I was drenched by the rain.
My new shoes were soaked
and my hair was ruined.
I reached shelter
and watched your storm rage outside.
I sat under a roof
and I stayed warm in another's arms.
Your storm passed quickly
and their were no flash floods.
The rain bloomed the flowers
and the grass looked a little greener.

The third time it happened
you were a raindrop.
You struck my arm on a bright summer day
and evaporated into the heat
before I even had the chance
to see the spot where you touched me.
I wasn't even sure
if I had felt something
or if it was in my head.
The sun beat down on the Earth
and the light radiated through the world.
No storms were coming,
and no destruction followed.
You were a solitary
imaginary
drop.
Which left my mind before it nestled into place.

Hello, future, my old friend.
It's me, and I haven't forgotten all of your old tricks.
I remember how you sneak up on me when I least expect it.
I remember how you change minds and you change hearts and you change lives.
I remember how you invite yourself in with no warning
how you don't even bother taking your coat off;
how you leave your shoes on and trek mud all over my clean carpet.
Oh, I know you.
I know how you love changes
you live for goodbyes.
I know how you enjoy the fear I feel
when I consider your possibilities.
I know how you love to rob me of the present.
I know how you love to watch me squirm in my memories of the past.
I know how you love your unpredictability
I know that you will come.
I know I will not be ready.

when i pass by the lake, i have to stop and stare
how magnificent is it that such a beautiful body of water
is just sitting right there?
whether I'm shopping in Chicago
or hiking in Manistique,
lake michigan is my horizon, its depth is my peak.
i see every shade of blue there has ever been and will be,
i see white caps, forming patterns at the surface.
i wonder what fish are swimming below my feet.
i long to swim in it; to experience it’s vastness; to feel it’s chill envelop my bones
and to feel its warmth guide me back home.
my thoughts are clouded with the lake
and i see it in my dreams.
i think of its wide open rivers and its tiny little streams.
i wish to be near it,
to wake up to its song every day,
but when i rise in the morning,
i’m reminded that i am far away.

when you pass by the lake, you simply don’t stare,
such a magnificent body of water; do you know that it’s there?
if you were in Chicago, would it still be the same?
if you stood in Manistique, would you care that you came?
when you look at the lake, do you see all the blue?
or is every single ripple the same color to you?
do you think about fish, or wish to go for a swim,
or will you stay inside and say “i’ve already been in”.
have you drove by too many times that its escaped from your dreams,
do you find its rivers boring; “it’s not what it seems”.
you’ve seen it all your life, it’s as plain as a tree
is the way you ignore such a beautiful lake, the way you one day will see me?