Falling out of love
Is something that happens
Minds and hearts
Drift apart
New loves
Taken up in place
Of old ones
Some love remains
But others change
Hearts once on fire
Tamed by the dulling reality
Of complacency
Loves change
The heart doesn't

The air is crisp
Cold
Sending a lonesome chill
Down my back
The air is wet
Millions of raindrops
Falling
Tilting my head back
Opening my mouth
One drop
Finds my tongue

Beautiful things lay in wait
everything happens for a reason
life produces music to show we’re not alone
imagination can take you anywhere
every person feels shared emotions
vaults are meant to be opened
everything is gonna be alright

You hide
In peaceful places
Bringing unrest
That is fabricated
Trying to mutilate
The movement
From AIM
To King
You disrupted Civil Rights
COINTELPRO
Now you’re back
In Oakland
Waving your gun
Hiding in plainclothes

When someone
In charge
Tells your coworker
That they laugh too much
And to stop laughing
So much
Then it’s time
To run
For dear life

Still thoughts of you
Swimming in the back of my mind
I look away
Shake out the thought
Stretched out on the couch
She comes toppling over
On top of me
Pulling her in
Her warmth
Close to me
I kiss her on the cheek
She kisses me back on the lips
And I return the thought
Then you’re back in my head
Your face in the middle of my mind
Pulling myself off the couch
My thoughts scramble about you
And I get the urge to call you

Rising rents
Doesn’t seem to care
Who they affect
The City could care less
The mayor giving
Tax breaks
Playing high stakes
With peoples lives
The landlord
Controlling the soundboard
With rent control
Now seen as a nuisance
No one used to want to live here
But now they do
They say there is not enough housing
To fit they appetites
Well don’t be so hungry
Don’t be so greedy
Share a space
Don’t displace
Contemplate actions
Homeless shelters
Next to highrises
Single occupant
Apartments
Could fill ten beds
Instead of one head
Even Jack gets kicked out
The bar that supplies the ghost
Is a poetic footnote
To the money hungry
Seeing dollars
Instead of history
The nations remaining
Black bookstore
Painted The Color Purple
Now shut down
By monied clowns
Stating their needs for millions
Over millions who need
Books
Culture
Life
Instead of
****** glossed over history
Without a shred of the past
Marcus Books
Where Malcolm, Ali, Davis
Gathered
Now lost
To the highest bidder
People come
People go
But the erosion of history
Is a swift reality
Of the gentrification
Of The City

Why is
This
Box
Shouting at my
Face

In the dead of night
What do you find
When you slip outside
Your regular mind
Instead of drifting
Off to sleep
Take a walk
On down the street
What you find
May be a surprise
A whole family huddled
Under the nearest highrise
People just like
You and me
Except with no home
Stuck on the street
The politicians pass over
The firefighters scream by
The business execs don’t see
But the child asks why
Why is the house empty
With a man outside
Why is he a ghost
If he is alive

Where did the fire go
You talked of blood diamonds
Slave labor
And imperialism
Now you sit on a couch
With that rock on your hand
Weighing you down

El hombre no saba
Las cosas mas importante
A su hijo
El nino necesitaba
Las palabras de confidente
Que no dijo

I wait standing outside
You buzz me in
Walking up four flights of stairs
I catch my breath at your door
Talking clumsily
We end up at the piano
You pull the seat out
And start to play
Sitting there
I stare
My breath smells like alcohol
The air like ****
Yet the thing that makes my mind race
Is the sound your fingers make

Follow the heart
Wherever it takes you
It is yours
It knows what it wants
It beats for you and only you
Others will spit lies
With callous tongues
To drag you away
Far from your beating heart
Until it is so lonely it stops
Trust your heart
Don’t abandon it
It beats for you

Who is the crazy
One
The person screaming
On the street
For help
Or
The person walking
Calmly by

I swear I’ve been here before
Felt this before
Is this a look
Into alternate lives
That have crossed over
Into each other
I wonder what decisions I made
In the other life
Who I was before
Who I am after
I wonder if the other life
Wonders the same thing
About this life
If it turned out
We both wanted to switch
What would be the purpose
The best part
About dreaming a reality
Is that you realize
Your own reality is a dream
As well

With but one word
Castles are torn down
Destroyed in front of his eyes
Putting his delicate heart
In the hands of a father
Who pays no attention
And breaks it
What else
Gets passed down
Neither of them wants to know

Time must move forward
For anything to progress
Or change
There is no skipping
Fastforwarding
Or going back
Time must pass
Before anything else can
This is a reality
But there is a way to slow time
To try and sort things out
Before they pass by
Take a deep breath
Inhale
Exhale
Who says that we cannot live forever
In each second

What is failure
Who defines it
You
Or someone else
Scratching your eyes out
To block a hideous creation
A
"Failure"
You've been told to hate
Until 100 years later
You are rediscovered
As a genius
Ahead of their time
A passed over success
Now 100 years gone
Love yourself
No one else can tell you
What you love
What you think is beautiful
What you think is right
What you think perfection is

Rebirth
Is a gift
Given to all of us
Take it
Seize it
Do not fear it
Shed
What is not you
Let it burn
Until it turns to ashes
Then grow
From the rich soil
Of those ashes
Experience is what moves us forward
But do not look back

Left in a barrel
Thrown out to sea
Forgotten and lonely
Life’s misery
Is now their company

The look
Does not matter
It feels like razors inside
Slicing each blade of beautiful grass
The mind is abandoned
Leaving the body
To ache

I feel like I am stumbling
Through a bad dream
With pieces of my mind
Scattered
All about
Searching desperately
To find them
It feels like a cruel joke
Someone hiding them
In a box
Under lock and key

Spinnin down the street
Not afraid to ride the beat
I've felt it before
And been here before
But some
Thing
Feels so new
It's the crack in the sidewalk
The pitter
Patter
Of that downpour I've missed
The stars aligned like
I've never seen them
Before
Not caring which way I turn
As long as I end up
Been fed up
I need the beach

Sometimes
I am like water
Too scared
To go on land
Feeling safer
Surrounded by what is familiar

Two wheels
By the beach
Riding over concrete
Flashing by
Where you go
Only you will know

I can see the moon hiding
In between the clouds
As the music plays
Glowing orange
It disappears
Only to shine through

Someone to motivate us in our life
Someone to believe in us
To support us
And tell us to do what we think is right
To pull us up
To say that it's ok
That we can do it
Even if we make mistakes

Someone
Like poetry

If what separates humans
Is rational thought
And cognitive intelligence
Then why don't we cherish thoughts
Why don't we take the time to stop
And think
Instead of frantically running around
Off to work
Off to school
Time is money in this type of globalized economy
So where is the time
To sit
And think
Use the ability we were given
To ponder
Contemplate
Argue with ourselves
Instead of being taught
To aspire to the person who only shouts orders
Commands
Directs
But does not reflect
On their own thoughts

The one I love the most
The one that brings me calm
A smile and a hug no matter what
Supporting me always through everything
Gentle words to soothe my anxious mind
Helping me weather it every time
The one I hold dearest in my heart
My mother, my ma, my mom

Nothing is impossible
Nothing
Emptiness
Alone
Absence of life
Absence of thought
This is nothing
And it is
Impossible
Because we are humans
Living
Breathing
Being
We are the complete opposite of nothing

The best part about mumbling is that you can make best friends really easily – You always meet people that tell you to speak up because they say they can’t hear you – But then one day you meet someone that hears everything you say – And you become best friends instantly

Hello, hello.
Yes. The committee meeting has started
Can we please review the minutes from last time
Right moving forward
First item on the agenda:
There are too many flavors of ice cream
How are we supposed to choose
When there are so many flavors
I move to second that opinion
Third
Right, there from now on be only two flavors
Chocolate and vanilla
But don’t you think there might be a need for strawberry?
But that is too many flavors, remember there are too many
Ah yes, but can’t we incorporate one more?
Ok, I move to propose three ice cream flavors and no more
I second
Third
Second and final item on the agenda:
Ice cream is too cold
How can we eat ice cream
Quickly, when it is so cold
There shall only be warm ice cream from now on
I second that opinion
Third
Right, from now on there will only be warm ice cream
The committee thanks you for attending.
If that is it, we will adjourn.

As the night
Sits and passes by
I also sit outside
Staring up at the sky

Where are the homeless politicians
The downtrodden academics
And the low-wage billionaires
In this society
?
They are living
Walked over
Everyday

The problem is power
When it is concentrated
It becomes explosive like a bomb

The parent directing the child
With absolute authority
To behave as told

A rigidly enforced chain of respect
For elders in a family
With no questions asked

No matter what the form
Power concentrated
Is dangerous

Your words are truly beautiful
They paint the page
Dance in front of my eyes
Your words flow as surely and as calmly as the ocean
There is a peace in the writing
There is love and honesty in the writing
There is a connection with the honesty of life that I feel in the words
And I thank you for your beautiful poems

Below are excerpts from some of my favorite poems by ShowYouLove:

these are the things i love:

These are some things I love

Fresh baked bread and homemade apple pie
A long happy day concluded with a tired sigh
Friends that are forever and love that is pure and true
Spending time with those I love and when I think of you
Being there for those in need and ones that are suffering
To take a bad day make it happy and the joy we bring

I love these lines as they blend all of the truly simple pleasures - good food, time happily spent, good friends, thinking of those you love. Very beautiful words.

Regrets (Going Home):

I might have done things differently if so
I have come to understand a little a purpose far greater than me
Life is more than just a job, money, or nice things I believe
It is family, it is love, it is a something that you feel
In your heart, in your soul, and it is very real
Helping others, taking care of yourself, being there, showing love
These are all things that matters most if push comes down to shove
Then again it’s not too late to try to reconcile
I’ll take responsibility for consequences and go the extra mile
The only thing I would ask is to keep me in your prayers
And that you know wherever you go someone really cares
The song changes, the light turns and I continue heading home
To a place I can go back to no matter how far away I might roam

This is one of my favorite poems. I love how honest and open the poem is. It recognizes faults but also shows how it's never too late to show your love to someone else and to express gratitude and ask for forgiveness. I find this poem to be amazing and inspiring.

Make It Better:

I want to be your salt, I want to be your light
To chase away the dark of night and say that it'll be alright
But I can't do any of this and it hurts me to the core
To see you suffer and not be able to help more

I like this passage because I think it expresses a feeling everyone has had in their life where they desperately want to help someone but can't. There is something sad and beautiful about this shared emotion.

Fragile Treasure:

But under proper circumstances we can bloom and flourish too
And we can bring harm or joy to others; the choice is up to you
Life is short and is a precious treasure
True beauty and worth are something only God can measure
Treat all life with care and respect
For each one is sacred and hand select

I love this poem and this passage because it shows how positive your writing is. I think it reflects the respect you have for life and that is beautiful!

Insecurities:

When the light is fading fast, remember it's only in your mind
The past is gone, you can't go back and try once more
Now to remember not dwell and to look forward
Learn and grow
Your insecurities have no real control

I really enjoyed this because it again takes an idea that all people have shared - insecurities - and puts a positive outlook on it. Again it feels very honest to me and that is why I love it.

Thank you again ShowYouLove for your poetry. Your words really do inspire me and so many of your poems really resonate and connect with me and for that i am thankful.

Is it necessary
How do we shake off
What is not ours
Things that we inherited
Trying to let go of some things
But not others
It seems almost impossible sometimes

The beauty of missing you
Is that I can hold you in my memory
That perfect moment
Imagining my hand in yours
My head resting on your neck
There are no words disrupting
No outside thoughts impeding
Just the thought of you

Talk is cheap
Agree that the problem is inaction
And do nothing
More comfortable shopping online
Than doing something
That is a waste of their time

Laughter
Is the best medicine
Seriousness
Is toxic poison
Reality
Is the comedy
Professionalism
Is the tragedy

Letters on a screen, pages in a book
Letting words be the guide
Words of my own, words of others
Allowing them to take the reigns
Fearing the unknown, navigating the future
Let words paint the actions
The guide that is read, the guide that is heard
Words

Waiting for a phone call
She asks to watch a film
Retiring to her room
As I follow
Waiting for a phone call
We lay out
Turn the computer on
And wait
Hearts are beating
She takes out the stethoscope
To see how alive I am
Palms are sweating
As our legs inch closer
Waiting for a phone call
Playing music
And waiting
There is no call
Yet I go home

Where is
The time to do nothing?
Not the time to do errands
Not the time to catch up
Not the time to think about what you should be doing
Not the relaxation at end of a long day
The time to do
Nothing