Emotion and tone,
like sugar
in your tea.

So complicated
So difficult
There should be no mistake
There should be no fault

So disgusting
So stressful
I should always smile
I should look beautiful

Life should look perfect
Though it is like a mess
Under the bright spotlight
Everyone makes a guess

Look at me in the eye
I am a celebrity
Only beautiful things
You can see them from me

I smile and laugh
I never look dry
Under the bright spotlight
I should never cry

Rose by any other name
sprouting in the city,
does not sell as sweet --
A dandelion plucked
from Midwestern soot,
blown to the wind, assumed
Out-shown by gardens
of the proven perennial
(once Violet, Lily, or Daisy)
Waiting on bated baby's breath
to blossom beyond marigold,
an undiscovered exotic
For this concrete jungle.

The Things I Wish I Could Be

I wish I could be
one of all instruments;

the singer whose voice
transforms his audience into a choir;

the writer who drops his reader's guard
making a beautiful decimation of every self-made fantasy;

the actor ripe with nominations
whose prestigious Oscar breaks him open before the world;

the photographer who captures moments worth infinite words
while instilling that perfect piercing silence;

the painter of elegant simplicity
or ponderous complexity in every brush and stroke;

the icon strangers seek for reason
looking upon for inspiration;

the husband who gives and comforts
appreciating the angel he's been bestowed;

the father wise and guiding
with enough laughs and smiles to last their whole lives;

the chef and the baker serving only the best
scrumptious entrees and desserts;

the encyclopedia of experience
answering questions obscured from the web;

yet beyond all things
I wish to greet death with a smile
knowing my life, however lived
was worth those years.

Two performers debating on a quirky time capsule stage

Evaporating the barriers of time with their improv

As the spectators breathe life into their routine with no turmoil