We are poor creatures
slimy organs imprisoned in flesh.
The sun burns us, water drowns us
our lives are rough and short,
we’re little more than talking dust.

We all howl with angry doubts.

Our art may dry and chip
our science could let us down,
our poets stammer and grow quiet.

Humanity has always been imperfect,
but some of us are trying. We see the stars,
we know passion, we sing and dance
and are indomitable - join us-
because the best is yet to come

eliza, she twirls like a ballerina as the piano moves along
she’s cute and she’s cheerful, she leaps around to a familiar song
oh, but eliza has changed
she’s pale in the face
she’s got goosebumps from the cold rain
eyes welling with tears from the salt she poured in them

eliza, she used to be such a joy to be around
oh, but now she can’t keep a conversation without her hands sweating
her nihilistic views cloud her intuition

she’s like charcoal on a whiteboard
she won’t go away, she haunts my every hesitation
she’s blocking my inhalation
she was like a butterfly in my hand
and now she’s ash from blazing land

       such a letdown, such a change in plans

eliza, she glimmers like sequins in the fog
sapphire eyes in hot tubs
but her sadness is her overwhelming weakness
it envelops her in its hurricane
she creaks like old wooden stairs under the weight of her own
she temporarily lives in midnight moonlight sorrow
with weak bones and a crestfallen shadow
burying herself in the emptiness of solitude
the january blues stalking her every move  

oh, eliza,
i miss you
who you were, all that you did
i miss your surefire smile
your continuous laugh
your sweet disposition
your hilarious jokes and the positive halos radiating about your head

now she’s volatile
as wild and insecure as an adolescent child

she falls from the stage onto a bed filled with tears
(she calls it a water bed, she tries to remain optimistic)  
(all she knows is that the rivers that flood from her eyes show that she is not completely numb)

the spring sentiments used to be her constant
she used to have scraped kneecaps and a clueless exuberance
solely a bandage could heal her

oh eliza,
have i taken you for granted?
have i stripped you of your merit,
leaving you gagging and slumping in the rainfall?
your irises were streaked with summer’s blues
now they’re just stained from the blue ocean tears you cried

oh eliza,
what happened to your sheer happiness,
leaving a movie theater with the main character’s personality?
did the pounding in your chest come from the insecurities i ****** upon you with a thousand pounds of force?
i miss your cathartic release, the eclipse of your moon striped body on my bedroom wall directly in front of the place i lay

she’s casted shadows over the bridge she walks across to sabotage her footing
she sits with her mouth open in frozen silence
trying to capture the warmth that waltzes around her

oh eliza,
am i to blame for this destruction?
your lugubriousness now looming over the flowers on meadows you once danced on
i miss who you were, but mostly who you won’t show
the harsh judgement gathered like dust along your body
you haven’t been you, eliza, for years



eliza, she twirls like a ballerina as the piano moves along
listen to her song
for her worst secrets are held in breakable silence

Part of me says stay small, part go big
Part says eat your fill, part don’t pig

Kenko says: long life brings many shames
I say the gray sky brings winter, no blame

The impassable mountains we revere
Moderate the force of wind and water

Get the cement truck into the refrigerator
We shall honor all of life sooner or later

Anything can happen if you don’t resist
To get lucky you gotta be careful first

You discover dying’s much like living
Who should I thank for the pity of things?

O to have the smile of a lover
Who wouldn’t rather be elsewhere!

Remain Open with
Your Self, Your Heart, Your Mind, and
Happiness you'll find

A distant shimmer, a mirage of water,
Dancing on the edge of a scorched path's border.
Born of heat and refracted light,
Like intimacy’s clash—its endless fight:
A step closer, and it slips farther.

Happiness, too, wears a fleeting guise,
Always just beyond desperate eyes.
Eluding even the fiercest demands.
No matter the cost, no matter the stride,
It lingers just out of reach, then hides.

And so the future drifts and flows,
Day by day, person by person, lows by lows.
No matter how "happily ever after" is sold,
How rainbows shine after storms grow cold,
Or how the tunnel defends its lighted ends,
For some, the chaos never bends.

Fairytales, dreams, hopes retold—
For certain hearts, they never unfold.

-fir.m

A recent meeting led me to a girl, She was a butterfly, free and wild And I was drawn in by her fluttering style. Her wings were painted with colors so bright. We sat by the water, talking all night, And for a moment, everything felt just right.

Her laugh was so contagious, my heart skipped a beat. Whenever I'm with her, I feel so at ease, Comfortable, and happy, with a sense of peace.

But uncertainty creeps in, and doubt fills my mind, Does she feel the same, or am I just blind? She's not looking for something, at least for now, And I'm left feeling lost, wondering how.

Despite it all, I still cherish each and every day, The way her smile lights up my way. And though my heart's fearful, and my mind's in strife, I'll hold on to hope, and enjoy this journey of life.

I am HAPPY -
Through chaos betwixt upon me;

Rain shall fall - and;
Flowers may wilt - from;
Fields damasked in blood,
As tears of my toil.

Debt knocking upon my door,
Whispers haunting my floor;

Terrors hail from the sky,
Loneliness hung to dry;

But I am Happy,
Prithee, can't you see?

in the sky behind my little blue house,
tonight,
i see the brightest moon i have ever seen
and its light illuminates the peeling paint
and the broken window
and the mud
and i used to see blemishes, defects
new lines on the to-do list
and now i see home, home with you
the way we like it—
full of love and food and games—
wipe the mud off your shoes when you enter
and stay a while