The thick wall that kept rising, receding.
The dense fog that kept clouding, thinning.
The loud silence that kept ringing, quieting.
The deep uncertainty that kept looming, fading.
The endless panic that kept alarming, silencing.
The fierce anxiety that kept suffocating, breathing.
The lonely hate that kept restraining, releasing.
The fiery anger that kept bubbling, calming.
The dark shame that kept dragging, lifting.
The grounded doubt that kept blinding, seeing.
The aching envy that kept crippling, accepting.
The jolted lust that kept begging, affirming.
The beautiful vulnerability that kept coiling, unraveling.
No longer lurking in the shadows of my soul,
but co-existing in the light of my truth.

October burns in colours no other month can hold
Leaves crack beneath my boots
Each one a reminder that
Endings can be beautiful
Halloween grins on porches
Plastic fangs and candle flames
A carnival of shadows that feels more honest
Than daylight ever does
I love it for its strangeness
For the way it makes the world admit
That there’s something waiting in the dark
And Samhain
The air shifts
The veil thins
I light candles for the ones I miss
Watch the smoke climb into night
Like a message they might still read
I don’t beg them back
I just say "Thank you"
Or that I still remember them
This month is home
The crunch of leaves
The smell of smoke
A carved pumpkin collapsing into itself
While the flame inside refuses to die
October is where I feel most alive
Orange skies and black nights
My body tuned to the hum of it
I will not let you rush me past it
In favor of tinsel and candy canes
This is my season
My altar of colour
Bone
And flame
My love letter written in cider breath
And the sound of footsteps in the dark
October holds all of it
The grief
The joy
The masks
The monsters
The ancestors
The harvest
The truth that nothing really leaves
It only changes form
And I would live here forever
If the year would let me

The seats are empty;
The theatre is dark;
Why do you keep on acting?
There’s no one keeping mark.

Each step analyzed;
Each line rehearsed;
What tricks are you playing?
Trapped in an eternal curse.

These masks to hide fears;
These laughs to contain sadness;
Who are you when you’re not pretending?
Careful not to thread into madness.

Could I answer "who am I?"
Even if I were to ask myself?
I'd surely catch myself being something else
Draped in some kind of forgotten lie

I bend and split like beams of light
Fractured through the prism of life
My personality's gone under the knife
I don't recognize myself, try as I might

Maybe it's been too long to yearn
For something that's too far gone to grasp
So are these last year's only pointless laps?
There's no familiar street for me to turn

I'm lost amongst my many false faces
And I can no longer find my own
This is my cross to bear alone
Falling out of my own graces

©2025

🙏🏻

They feast with the wolves…

Bark with with the dogs…

Weep with the shepherds…

Guests at every table,

but a pillar at none.

Call them seasonal?
Situational?

Maybe,
Socially fluent? morally absent?

Friends to everyone…
and loyal to no one.

☝️