that summer my cousin came
way down from goshen, utah for four whole weeks
and when she had to leave i
cried.

dust billowing up behind horse hooves
in the sticky heat or bitter cold
in breeze or rain or shine,
the feeling of flying.

i’d never, ever forget it, for
when a bird knows Freedom she
will not settle for cages.

my first copy of Falling Up, off
the shelves of the school library and
never returned, pages folded and flipped
and worn like a favorite sweater.
thirty times or more, i read in corners
at my sister’s dance studio and cars and
chairs on the porch, me and shel sitting,
sipping lemonade and apple juice.

i still feel it in the way the
leaves look greener in the rain.

some nights my heart is filled to the brim
so i take the sharpened tip of my pencil and
pierce
the quivering flesh and pour out
line after line after line on the page, but
when i look down all i see are the lines
of my mother’s face etched into the paper.

and when the night is dark and the air is still,
off the letters comes the sound of galloping.

1.) Death comes for us all eventually.

2.) Having what is commonly referred too as "Humanity" is what truely sets us apart from the animals.

3.) All people deserve a bare minimum level of respect that is granted to them by virtue of being human themselves. Nothing more, nothing less until their actions prove wanting.

4.) Those who refuse to learn, stagnate and die. Thus is modern day evolution.

5.) Anything that invalidates the free will granted to oneself is evil, not matter what other evils may be prevented.

6.) Your life does not belong to you alone. Though you are it's master, you do not have full ownership of it.

7.) Nothing should ever come before "Humanity". We are all people first, gender, creed, ideologies, race, nationality. All of it is worthless compared to "Humanity"

the dog ate the frog
(society consumes the poet)
the quiet man says a lot
and the trees live long
and remember

mental groans dismay
looking for true solution
sometimes accomplished

I want to show you,
Everything, in this life,
that is beautiful.

Everything... Anything.

I want to collapse the breadth,
of star-speckled sky,
into something small enough,
that it blooms, eternally
from the palm, of your hand.

I want to chase you up
forested trails,
and down alpine valleys,
to see the simple,
awestruck expression
fill your eyes,
as Mother Earth,
beckons you.

Swaying, meditatively
with her fruity bunches,
of bountiful branches,
looming over sturdy shoulders,
and the tune, of avian choruses,
capturing your interest...
undivided.

I want to kiss you, through rain storms,
and caress you,
through ferocious, roaring blizzards...
and make love, to you
in front of flickering bonfires,
as apples release, from trees,
and plummet to their quiet rest.

If the atmosphere, was our canvas,
I would paint it, over
with scenic, splashy murals,
of me, and you.
Locked, into an endless loop,
of exploration, and ecstasy.

While the Earth, itself
shuddered breathlessly,
around our peaceful,
dreaming, hearts, beating
in a synchronized throb...

Our interwoven souls,
would go on,
dancing, divinely

through daylight,
and darkness.

...I dream...of a world,
with you,
that eclipses,
even the light,

of the sun.

This pink pen & this pink poem, are born without being on mainland;

this piece's words, and now their home, still written in remorseless sand.

On beaches like these, markers are found; and  at Gibraltar's point it's somehow wound...

...up, so that these words of mine, carefully crafted, maycleverly shine:

May's final beams of copper light,
scintillate, their dancing,
till the water meets the night.

My heart is torn, both caught and worn,
My thoughts collide—can hope be born?
Emotions race, I’m lost in space,
As reason breaks in fear’s embrace.

My dreams ignite, then burn through night,
They curl to ash in moonless light.
I ask myself: Should I take flight,
Or stay and rise, prepare to fight?

Hope sways like wind, then slips away,
While fear would lead my soul astray.
Will care reach out, or will it fall?
Do I dissolve, or brave it all?

What’s real can bend, can fade or fold;
Still leaves its chill within my bones.
Like dusk and dawn, I bend and break—
Half-light, half-dark, I lie awake.

And truth may come through quiet speech:
It calls me still, just out of reach.
Do I collapse or play my part?
Do I drown, or chase the stars?

If the end draws near, must I fear?
My chest is tight, my thoughts unclear.
Yet from the storm, I steal a spark,
A borrowed flame to light the dark.

They speak of ends in heavy tones,
But breaking shows me what I've known:
I long for touch, a vow to keep,
A hand to hold, a soul to meet.

So if all must fall and skies descend,
Let not the fall be where I end.
Let breaking shape a softer heart,
Not built of shields but set apart
With one who stands, hand in hand,
When none but silence filled my land.

No hand reached through, no form held true,
No thunder cracked, no heavens split.
Yet still I breathe, I do not quit.
And that, perhaps, is enough—
To stand.

I’ve got a freckle on my top lip
You probably wouldn’t notice if
You weren’t up close

I’ve got a chip in my tooth
Now you know I bite my nails

I’ve got a weird way
Of moving my lower jaw
Back and forth when I talk
Now I bet that’s all that you can see

Now you can’t unsee anything about me
You can’t unsee anything about me
Now you can’t unsee anything about me

I’ve got elbow patches
Where no hair grows
But such hairy arms

And tattoos no one else
Seems to recognize

You’ve been
Looking at me from angles
I can’t see myself
I’m new to myself
In your eyes

Tell me, who am I?
To you. To you. To you. To you.

Now you can’t unsee anything about me
You can’t unsee anything about me

Maybe I should just let you
Figure some things out for yourself

But it took so long
To get my own **** straight
It couldn’t hurt for me to help

          You accept me
You can't unsee anything about me
          And look past these
You can't unsee anything about me
          Things you can’t unsee
You can't unsee
          Anything about me