Ruled rays push through
the shade and shades of home,
painting with geometric shapes
shards of divided sun.

With lines like verses
and basins to dip in,
the light decorates and divides
and invites me to play.

We slip through prisms
between colors alongside none,
finding shining members of my mind
that broke through heavy shadows.

By this morning
there are no limits on shape or play,
as dark edges of fears and feelings
give way to dancing rays.

As the storm sets in,
the deep scales
of ocean clouds
shimmer faces and
mystical life.

As the waved wind
tickles my face,
sounds play off my ear,
but bow to the breaks
of thunder.

Yet dim glows of lanterns
reflect from my eyes,
warming the storm’s uncertainty,
welcoming the life of rain.
It is familiar.

i am at peace
in the petals of a lily,
the violet-stained sheets
comforting my uncertainty.

the flower grows
through dependence and effort -
the heart’s pain and wreckage,
my pain in blooming.

my neck is strong,
Stern and firm
that bends with dedication
to honest beings

I am.

Empty words -
That’s what it is.
An answer
To something more concrete than a dream,
More true than a hope.

Not empty, -
Void of meaning.
Full instead -
Overbrimming with potential
A hook to reality.

Those are the words
Of my mind -
Rigid and tense,
Controlling, compelling,
Raw and imperfect.

But they are empty
And they are me.
Acceptance is love,
As it is pride.

To love me
Is not to pick and choose
But to be and
Believe.
Embrace.
Accept.

I feel my pain, I live it,
I am it.
Here I am.

I am also more.
Empty words,
Full with life.

An answer.

why is the star so bright
when darkness is at its finest?

the sky embodies
and envelops
the perception of the wind

ever strong
ever passionate in force

the stillness is loud
the sound is still

and stargazing is
eternal

it's poetic, i think, how the
burning of cigarettes
creates a subtle glow at nightfall.

every inhale, the light burns brighter.
a smoker will
hold
the smoke for a second or two and then
release it to the sky.

habitual and addictive, just so, is
living yesterday when today is
bleak,
self-inebriation by clinging to things that once made you happy
instead of

releasing

and taking a new breath.
it's just a subtle glow,
on and
off,
beautiful, but not meant to last.

they told me
it would be too late
to see the midnight stars

and they told me
not to wait because
the stars would never change

and they shamed me
when i did not budge
but sat with my friend Hope

yet now i am grown
and perhaps i should tell them
that at midnight
the stars proved them wrong