On Monday, my husband waits until I get home to say the words.
I go to unload the car and carry back tears.
Sitting, stirring, I begin to take out stitches on
a strayed shawl for the third time.

An artist and an adventurer, she sipped Dickle and ate meat
and raised chickens. She slept in a small house to live spaciously.
Erin was tall and never knowing of how she showed me to
express, explore, expand, to exist.

On a long ago Friday, with frayed Carhartt pants, we were
chatting about women, and their depictions in magazines,
Erin says,“Well, they’re not shaped like a real woman.”
For a lasting moment, I see from her wise and lovely eyes.

Erin is a stitch unlooped from our tight knit.
A drafty gratitude, a sudden shiver. She was here, with us, with the world.  
And now we are looping onto each other, tenaciously.
Even so, what are we to do with slipped stitches and this hole?

May we purl pain into artistry. All we have to do is add the t.  
So we will paint. And we will climb mountains.
We will tear and we will cry and live and bleed and die.
Until then, we have no other task than to knit ourselves together.

His purpose was to reintroduce me to....poetry

It’s funny how life is
How my biggest fear in life—no, it didn’t happen to me
It touched my best friend instead.

He did something unspeakable
She is broken now
And all I am filled with is unquenchable
Undeniable
Rage.

I want to tear him limb from limb
I want to beat him black and blue
Make his face unrecognizable
Make him regret the things he did to her.
Make him rue the day he made his greatest mistake.

You see, I’m not just a girl.
Beneath all of the soft lines and playful words,
I am a hurricane.
When it comes to her, I will give no mercy.
She is before anyone else in this world.
Like the Hulk, I am filled with rage.

I want to rip and tear
I want to cause him pain
For she has been broken
And I want to stop her hurt.
After all of my promises that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her,
There was nothing I could do.

Maybe that’s where my rage originates.
I wasn’t there when she needed me.
Well, darling, I’m coming.
And I carry the rage of woman behind me.

Sometimes he'd speak like a pirate
Just to get a laugh

If a giggle was worth a nickel
I couldn't finish the math

His happy carefree spirit was like
The sun lighting a room

But then somewhere down the line
My mind ignored the clues

His appearance became fewer
Like flowers approaching winter

I should've seen the signs
And tried to keep him nearer

I have not heard from him now
For years on end

And not a day goes by that I don't wish
He was still my friend.

I have procrastinated love
I have hindered your affection from sprouting
I postponed the nights we’d be together;
For the truth I was scared to share.

I have procrastinated love.
Now, I wake everyday feeling empty
I thought you would have waited
But you left me and my thoughts to moan

You have procrastinated love
You too deserve the blame
You promised to return but like procrastination
You kept me in your mind
With no actions to back your vision

RELATIONSHIP 101
There is a way my heart cringes
When you are not with me

My own thoughts scare me
They make me see you in everything

Let’s hold hands
Till we are lethargic;
When we become bad for each other

A HUMBLE SUNRISE...

He perched on the boundaries of the fallen temple,
to feel the warmth of the morning rays.
He could feel the dampness of dew that surrounds him,
But on the rise of the sun failed to gaze.
As the birds chipped all around him,
He knew that his day had begun.
Though blindness shrouded him but never darkened,
As he felt beauty from the summers sun.
See no evil Mizaru.

A near by friend reached out a hand to guide him,
He chattered with joyous glee.
For he could marvel at the beauty,
A wonderous sight to thee.
Although his friend spoke gently,
Full of gratefulness that his eyes could see.
He was disturbed by the silence,
The loneliness then sparked to peace.
Hear no evil Kikazaru.

Another fluffed soul dangled closer,
Hanging upside down from a blossom tree.
He was full of wonder and amazement,
By the beauty that surrounded the three.
His ears could hear the chorus,
Of an awakening world that surrounds.
The burning dew now dispersing,
Evaporated from earthen ground.
Although he longed to speak up his excitement,
To his friends the trio they became.
Consistent mute and dumbfounded
He was greatful of friendships to claim.
Speak no evil Iwazaru..

Maggie Evans

I am responsible
For me, and my actions;
I do my part for things to go smoothly
Honestly, you don't even do a fraction.

I paved the way for this to work
You trailed, staggering behind me
Creating potholes wherever you could
And you make it known, just to be a bully

I make mistakes sometimes,
We all do
I'm not excusing my trivial wrongdoings
But neither are you.

I thought you were my friend
I can clearly see that we're not
That is why I do not owe you
Another millisecond of my thoughts

I don't owe you anything.
You are in debt to me.
But I'm not being petty, or rude, or mean.

Just leave me alone.
I want nothing to do with you.
Pull up your socks and move on,
As we all should. As I have done, and will continue to do.