How did I walk 37 miles in 19 hours?
How did I bike 90 miles in 11 hours?
...
Inhale in nose, exhale in nose 4x
Inhale in nose, exhale in mouth 4x
Inhale in mouth, exhale in nose 4x
Inhale in mouth, exhale in mouth 4x
And repeat.

You just need enough food and water and a pair of soft and hard soled shoes.

The words once spoken,
scattered beyond Mediterranean shorelines,
I can feel them like whispers of the wind  
As the sun, the wind, and all the birds carry
Spoken promises in dire need of healing,
And despite my racing thoughts
paralleled to my feet,
telling me to face the other direction,
I still held out my shaking hands,
To put you back together again,
even when my fingers were bleeding

what would happen if i left
running through the night
the wind whistles forgotten tunes
soft feet falls upon grassy meadows
moonlit shadows dance with me

running running running

past fades
i am nothing but a memory
they shed a tear but i am
free

Running away.
A dream that all kids have, as they fight off imaginary pirates.
A dream we harbor as the harsh realities of life slowly creep up on us.
A dream that compromises.
"We shall run away next year when we get some money"
"We shall make a visit first to see if we really like it"
Slowly but surely the dream fades away.
To some cartoon version you see once a year.

if I went backwards,



you'd find me underneath
those dim city streetlights

laughing with the other
kids on my block.



you'd find me at
the first funeral

and then the
second and third

staring ahead with
blank eyes and a
tear-stained face,

brown dirt on
my black shoes

and you'd never again
find me laughing at
the end of my block.



you'd find me
running, running,
always running

from the cops
from rival gangs
from foster homes
from mean kids

from my responsibilities
and my guilt and the truth
and eventually from my past

and I wouldn't slow down
until I collapsed.



you'd find me on a
pool table in a basement
with my first boyfriend
on top of me.

he whispered that
he loved me,
but the bruises
said otherwise.

I listened to his voice
and ignored his actions.



again, you'd find me
running, running,
always running

from my ex and his abuse
from my self-hatred
from my confusion
from more cops

and I wouldn't slow down
until I collapsed.



if I went backwards,
I would be running.

I'm still running.

if I go forward,
will I stop?

will I always
be running?

She had the breath of a raging storm
Quick, forceful, and cloudy
Running through frosted fields
Icy grass, sparkling and trampled
Running from her fears, worries, and responsibilities
The red canvas of her shoes bled darker with melting ice
Her bare skin was on fire, covered in burning needles
Running towards the breath of dawn
Only to meet the silence of the moon
Placed in an open, endless sky