I need to feel your presence
find a way somehow
through a flame
or a hole
or a spirit
somehow

give me a sign
I'm fuming
this scream refuses
to leave my throat
my eyes turn pale
with your absence

I circumambulate
your sacred fire
but the demons desecrate it

swallow the sky
in a fury only you can summon

clear the grounds

I'll be born again
like a breakthrough

I've stopped trying now
I've stopped flapping my arms and legs
frantically
and suddenly, I stop drowning

suddenly, I'm a leaf
being carried afloat to the shore

you're only alone
when you club yourself with the
employees
the tgif-ers
the rule abiders
the girls groupchat from college

you're only abnormal
when you compare yourself to the
smalltalkers
the engineers
the doctors
the selfie people

you had this wrong the whole time

the miscreants
the artists
lone visionaries who pay
for their brilliant ideas in tears
before bed each night
one more day gone by
undiscovered

this is
the secret majority
making no noise

the arthropods of the world
running the talent show
after the curtains draw close

go.

I don't know what the answer is
make a paper ball out of it
and hurl it my way
before they find out

my roots are firm now
the storm stood tall
my ascent was steep
but I had good company
a herd of mountain goats
meditative travelers
of life and death
the awesome peak is in sight now
my smile has grown quieter
and my heart,
a drum that announces rain
resounding

I've seen the world
let me take a seat
and put my pen down
now my life can begin

Wondrous and momentous, why does this hurt?
Evanescence of your taste, as sweet as dessert
A delicacy you told me only I understand
I can count the times you said I love you on one hand
Thoughts of you boil my blood down deep
They unfold the lies which succeeded in haunting my sleep
A ghost of my past present and future I'll never forget
The day that fate decided when and where we first met
With just a smile, you savored my attention
Just a mere touch vanquished my world without convention