Instead of losing my mind, I opted to tear out pieces of my heart,
I placed each piece in separate jars and sealed them with my soul,
Illuminated in varying colors, they found a home amidst parts of my past and my future.
Over time, the jars slowly disappeared and I was left with nothing as the dirt buried my abandoned body,
For I knew I could never experience life and love it for what it was without giving my all.
So my dear, do not collect my jars.
Leave my heart amidst the cities with lights so bright, the oceans with the waves so pure, and the lovers with their arms held wide.
You will feel me everywhere.

I decided to place my heart on my sleeve, bare and bursting, waiting for the day you would open your sun-soaked whiskey eyes to it.
As time passed, I watched as it shriveled into a husk of a memory, barren and broken.
I used pieces of my soul to mend the jagged cracks you so unknowingly wrought.
But I was not complete.
Every time your lips would caress my name, I could feel the cracks gape open into a chasm that leaked, my soul slowly slipping away.
Sanity was no longer reachable for me, my mind broken under the weight of tacit love, and so pain turned to pleasure.
I would smile as I died daily, your name a sweet taste on my lips.

Playing in the the summertime air
Placed our minds at ease
While our imaginations made a scene
Swinging in the breezy
Smiling and laughing so gleefully
Oh the silly games we use to play
Hide and seek until we couldn't see
Scrapped knees and bee stings
Made me sing mom please help me

Sitting outside in the summertime air
Makes me my mind uneasy
While my imagination screams please
Let me see my computer screen
Anxious to see my apps dance so playfully
I hold back my tears so painfully
I can't see why my parents hate me
They don't buy me anything
No matter how much I scream help me

These double doors are my eyes that see into peoples' lives
the end of a neon bright hallway, surgically clean
a lone traveller drags her life by the handle
here at an obscure hour while others sleep

I wonder if it's necessary that she leave?
She seems so removed from the furrowed brow
ticking watch business-man beside her
Watch the time. A missed flight. The world unfamiliar.

The agitated jitter of a lady puzzles me,
why does she cry? what is she leaving behind?
where will she go?
the airport departure lounge
purgatory
for a travelling soul.

I miss those wonder-filled days
When watching clouds was fun,
As well as watching movies
And more than only just one.
Two movies, a serial and a cartoon
Was the Saturday morning fare
With greasy popcorn and sodas
If we could find fifty scents somewhere.

My brothers and I loved picking
Through those illegal dump sites
That lawless neighbors often used,
Near us, in the middle of the night.
Once I found a Buddha statuette
And didn’t know who the guy was.
In Christian America of the fifties
Knowing such things had no cause.

Brother Jim found a tricycle there
Almost completely okay to ride
And Dan found a kind of wood box
With a handful of coins inside.
He got to pay for the movies for us
But Sam didn’t find much at all.
He did manage to slip at the time
And take a pretty hilarious fall.

Maybe it was easier then, those days
For kids to stay so entertained.
The only thing that might spoil our fun
Was if nature chose to make it rain.
Many times our fun was exploring
And rain could make it a weary slog.
It caused some unpleasant journeys
Through some unattractive bogs.

We built go-carts out of some junk
We gathered on our treasure hunts,
But usually they were contraptions
My mother definitely did not want.
Mom was like that, careful with us.
Worry-wart that she was back then
It didn’t stop or really slow down
Us four adventure-minded children.

The morning fog rolls in
A new day cascades into dew drops
The mountains reminder of
An unwavering ability to impose its will
On those dwelling in the comfort below

This is a break from the cloudless
Skies which have plagued the Earth
With fiery days relentlessly.
Taking a break to enjoy the change
Misty eyes and solemn smiles
Disguise themselves in limited
Visibility

Tell me truly, is it unruly to ruffle the feathers which once taught freedom
To desire distant lands, dismiss demands which are restricting
I was thinking, of adventures, purple skies and orange mountains
Happiness brimming like a fountain, fearless and fantastic
Restless feet ache to tread, upon sands tainted not by dread
Let these craving hearts keep searching and to never to settle like the rest

we chased after each other
becoming dog-tired and yearning
to rest in each other's arms
i tried to reach out for him
my fingers almost touching his
but no matter how hard we try
we just can't seem to lock hands
i pushed at him and he did the same
i banged the wall, he called out my name
until our frustrations to hold each other
finally die down in our sleep
because he tells me i'm the light
and he's the shadow on the wall
and that is only how we can meet