As I took a walk outside,
I noticed something that caught my eye.
Twisted in the grass, ingrained with dirt,
What I saw made my heart hurt.

Monarch's wings I had found,
Which gave me feelings so profound.
An intense sadness, helplessness, fear,
Overcame me as I beheld these artifacts dear.

In death or life, they must have been torn,
These beautiful wings that the creature bore.
I picked them up and held them close,
These wings that symbolized what I feared the most-

Losing myself, my biggest part,
The part of my soul that is dearest to my heart.
And what for my memories, good and bad?
What if I couldn't remember anything; wouldn't that be sad?

The monarch's wings sit still on my dresser,
A reminder of my constant stressor,
Yet also comforting me just the same,
As I pass through each day, feeling slightly more brave.

She has never built sandcastles.
She has never toed the surf along the Gulf of Mexico.
She's only ever known these mountains;
these cold, granite monuments to impassibility
that reduce the sky to slits,
somehow managing to make the heavens smaller.

Half closed eyelids with their own trap-door gravity.

Short lives last eternities too
and there is beauty to be had
- even here -
It's just that everyone should get to build sandcastles sometimes.

I'm sitting on my back porch
Smoking a cigarette
Looking at the stars
Hazed out by smoke
Oklahoma is burning
Flames are all around
Smells like a campfire
Even in town
Livestock are dead
Running for the barren river
Wildlife gone
Majestic mountain lions
Climbing in the burnt trees
Only to die of smoke inhalation
Oklahoma is burning
River beds running dry
Dear Lord above
Give us rain
Help us see an end to this nightmare
Of Oklahoma burning

i’m convinced that
i have met an angel in real life,
wings spread and
halo glowing,
lips soft like
the sheets we’re tangled in
sweet like honey, showered
with stars from above
i am
entrapped, ensorcelled
by all that you are.
-a.c.b

I feel heavy...
You make me heavy...
Heavy
The weight I can not take!
Heavy
Please take it and rack it...
Make it shake and break...
Feel it behind...
Heavy
Is all in my mind...
Breathe of no kind...
I am feeling fearful
And need to see the one who keeps me
In his heart, soul, and mind...
Heavy
The feeling needs to be left behind...
Lost in the river...
We are riding oh so high...
Heavy
Let it be blind...
Let it also not complain
Or whine...
Heavy see the line...
Cross it!
But...
You will not see what you find...
Or chase my time!
I leave you heavy...
Far
Way away behind!