I like you.
Or at least I like who I am when I'm with you.
When I look into your eyes,
I'm on a different planet.
I've always liked you...
Even before everyone else did.
I still do...
And I don't know if its worse if you know,
Or worse if you don't.

You love my smile,
you dig my style.
A lady of grace,
a midst this desolate place.
In this troubled world,
filled with struggle and strife,
I hold my head high,
in this tough game of life.
I lingered in your shadow,
for far too long.
It cuts you to the core,
that Creator gave me strength to press on.
My dreams will be fulfilled,
no matter what you say.
I'll pray for you,
to be awakened...on judgement day.
Jealous of my success,
you tried to bring me to my knees.
Bringing havoc to everything you touch,
leaving behind treacherous debris.
I made it through the rubble,
and stumbled through to safer ground.
So strike me with your words,
for I know they are nothing but lies.
I can see the hurt,
as I look into your eyes.
Not all is lost...I want you to know.
You taught me strength,
and I will continue to grow.
I am a strong Native woman
PROUD where I stand.
I will never bow down to you...or your demands.

Struggling not to fall from grace
I sing these hymns of my disgrace
Freedom's wings a waning hope
Caught in this husk, this sinful cloak
Upon this alter that I lay
Mouth sown shut, forced to obey
These laws that seek to chain me here
I refuse to run, I will not fear
Wrap me in the kindest arms
Save me from this sinful heart
Give me wings of purest white
Allow me Faith that I may fight
Allow me Faith that I may fight

The enormity of this feeling...
breathless heaving
Warmth pulsing from my cheeks,
A once thin grin
Widening.
If I could fashion an aquarium
Vast enough to contain this feeling
It could safely house all the life of the seas,
Every grain of sand on the earth,
Strip the atmosphere from the grip of gravity
And compress it all inside
And still have enough room
For you and I to dance on the back of a blue whale,
As it sails through the sky.
This energy that sustains me
Intensifies as I think about you,
Until I think of your name,
And Amsterdam,
Those nights we walked through the park
Arm in arm,
The greatest creation I can claim as my own
Was the smile I molded on your face,
That remained there through the night,
As I sat there staring at your beauteous form
It never left for a moment.
It was your smile that granted me permission
To sleep soundly once again.
This feeling that grows and consumes more and more of my mind
Is the escalating passionate love I carry for you,
That at this very moment fills my spirit with satisfaction.

And a woman who held a babe against her ***** said, "Speak to us of
Children."

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you
with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that
is stable.

The power of love
blocks all the hatefull mean words,
let love be your shield.

I kissed someone's wife today.
It felt better than I wanted it to.

In my tiny bedroom,
the walls looked more beige than usual.
Martha laid beside me -- her idea.

Frames.
I didn't have frames on a couple posters.
Martha rested her head on my shoulder -- her idea.

Instead of putting up my clean laundry,
an **** of boxers, button-downs, and jeans took place on the floor.
Martha told me she liked her hair played with -- I didn't ask.

I left my cigarettes in plain sight
on top of a face down picture frame.
She slid my arm under her neck -- I couldn't be rude.

While she spoke of her husband watching cartoons,
I noticed **** (used during last week's *** with an ex) lying behind a couple beer bottles.
I put my right leg between her legs -- I can't help it if I'm a curious man.

When Martha pulled the blanket over our heads,
I hoped she couldn't smell my ex's perfume.
She let me run my fingers along her waistline -- she didn't tell me to stop until the fourth kiss.

Tributaries of mascara ran down her face.
Rivers of regret rushed out of her mouth.
I played out what would have happened -- had I not grabbed her, pressed my lips harder on the fourth.

"I'm not this kind of girl."
I told her things would be better with her husband.
Handing her a clean rag off the floor, she said -- "My life wasn't supposed to turn out this way."

I broke up the **** of clothes, grabbed an armful; made a beeline for the closet.
With a beautiful sound, a beer bottle broke as I passed by.
Martha's teary eyes saw the **** -- "What the hell were you planning to do?"

She slammed the door.
One of my unframed posters peeled itself off the wall and feathered to the ground.
Most of me felt cloudy, but I knew one thing -- she's got a good 50 years of marriage to go to spite me.