My feet feel the cool touch of the grass as I tip toe across the lawn. These long summer nights hold such a blissful innocence about them. Even in growing up, working at a desk job, and paying all the bills, I still feel like a kid when I am surrounded by fireflies in the cool, refreshing twilight air of a Wednesday night in June.

On my checkered blanket, the wind rustles the grass around me and each blade begins to dance to a song you can hear if you are quiet enough...

Distant wind chimes ringing, the breeze rustling the branches, the cicadas chip both near and far, a frog family croaks from the creek near by. There are few moments in this world where peace can wash over someone. In this moment, on the ground, in my PJs, I, a 20 something tired warrior, shine my flashlight toward the sky above in awe so that I may add my light to the infinate chorus above.

The serene nights of summer take me back to a time much simpler. A time when our only worries were 'can we get all of our adventures done in the time before we have to go to sleep?'. A time I go back to every June, just to feel that closeness, that humanity that I so crave. We are more than this zombie-like figure that takes over our bodies each day. We are creative and imaginative. We are fun loving and kind. We are children at heart and we need to stop depriving that child of the happier things in life.




-t.s.

You looked at me with silver eyes.
They shined at me as brightly as before.
It didn't change the fact that you were still,
Talking to that girl.

Then, you smiled at me.
Heard my laugh,
Made me giggle.
It made your face red.

Yet still,
I saw you talk to that other girl.
With your eyes shining
Not as brightly as before.

Please tell me,
Do you love me,
or no?

In the morning
I meander
mindfully

A quick drag
A sultry sip

In the morning
I meditate,
I meditate
Madness into a makeshift manual

A fresh breath
that lets out a quick crisp snap
and a call to all airs

A jittering jolt
followed by smooth calming hum

In pitch, on cue
Knowing what to do

The poise of a being
Instilled
Into a day

To be cool
In the hot land
Is much difficult
To overcome
Than in a cold sea
But let’s chill when
Wild thoughts
Generated in mind
Within no time
As a wild fire
Is disastrous
For ourselves
Is needed to
Handle it calmly
And carefully
When you are
Desperately desp
In the meantime
With chaos
In sometimes
Is something
More than a hurdle
Which must be solved
With patience
And confidence
By controlling
Ones own
Emperor of thoughts
To tackle it nicely
And live happily
In this graceful
Human life
To make it
More adorable
Than horrible
With flowers
Of one’s own garden
Than the
Sad thoughts
Of hopeless
Desert land
With buried souls

The 25cc moped was so very cool
It had a two stroke 25cc engine
A full body fairing with space
Under the seat for the rider’s helmet
Was fitted with bright LED lights
And a neon digital display for the speed
Not to mention a comfy green double seat
The off road tires were big and chunky
And the body was painted blue
All in all this moped was cool
Even if illegal on most roads
The engine was just too small
But it was fine for the sticker said:
125cc and nobody questioned the lie
Allowing me to ride my moped
Wherever I wanted
At a top speed of 30mph
To whizz on by

Night arrives, darkness unfurls its old comforting splendor
Silently I surrender my sense of one to depth of non existent light
Slowly, gently accepting its embrace, its caress so soft and tender
My sensations swirling, falling, and abandon my sense of sight
Warming, comforting, alone and gently turning my face away from reality
Day has been long, burning, scorching, destroying my sense of hope
But in the cool, loving night I find the worlds hidden duality
When I find my body broken, my life breaking the spirit of my soul
Swiftly, gently, my heart opens to the chords and tunes I cannot find
Roaring deafly, soaring underground, logic left behind
Thoughts alone and thoughts they remain
For I have entered a world where darkness is domaine
Not sadness nor worry or anxiety to burden my heart
Slipping, tipping off the edge of duality of this imagined reality
Clinging, crying, begging for a reality where this duality
May yet spread its wings and feel the wind as it soars
Letting go of all the love and hate from before
Breaking, cracking, my very soul a knife into my own heart
I am flawed, a monster of my creation I know
When did it begin? When did this path a young boy start?
Where did I lose the innocence I might have once known
Finding comfort only in the solitude of my mind
That same mind is slipping out of reality
Where is it? That sense of self I may find?
Have I ever owned a true sense of identity
Powers of love lost in the pain and cruelty
My own words are daggers
And abandon their own master
Wounded and bleeding
Gasping, breathing, clinging to ideas of salvation
Hope is fading, light is falling beyond the hills
And at the end of it all only do I find revelations
That I have grasped and sensed I have had my fill
Night time, darkness, cool winds on burns
Softness, tenderness, caressing each in turn
Stillness, hushness, softly dying breaths and whimpers
Sweet promise of dreams of love and joy in slumber
Darker thoughts and ambitions forgotten long ago
And though my thoughts and soul give ‘way
To the darker side of Day
I find comfort of the stillness without fight
The stillness and the comfort of the night
Old friends, new ones, all encompassed in the slumber
Fantasies abound, darkness all around, coolness yet so tender
Dreams and fantasies of a life I may have known
Circling each before my eyes
Beauty incarnate of my own mind, my fantasies unwind
Embracing the tenderness of the night

When I think of you,
As but dust
In a carbon filter
I am disgusted
In the fact
That
This is what
Was expected

And thus,
I would not be
Anything
But
Trusting
as I am,
Gush
At the thin
varnish
Of your skin

When,
Perhaps
You had found
Gladness
In a day,
Or in an
arcsecond
Of the sun

You would
Know
Nothing
In the way
That I do--

That is the curse
Of us
And thus
I make my
Words
With love.

Sitting here waiting for you
It doesn't mean i have a clue
Just because i don't need someone new
To complete my perfect view

I just don't know what to do
Cause without you i only blue
All i have to do just wishing you feel it too