flatten your tongue
slip it between your teeth

n.

your little lips
forming an elipsis

o.

put them together
and may you declare
a word you’d so carefully deny—
no.

you spell it out
on table tops
shout it
from the rooftops

and when cursed hands
seek to defile your shrine
may you exclaim
"i am mine"

The light inside
Of me
Was burning, learning
How to write, despite
The fire was strong
Someone came along, among
Bad choices
Screaming noises

He whom turned of my light,
He led me to fight
All the writing,
Done, on display
He took it, and ripped it away, today
I feel like I should have fought more, war
Should have begun,
Poems should have sung
Several fires would have stung

Sitting here, looking back on what I could have had
Now I have 13 poems
And a fire, half ignited
Could you maybe help me, light it?

I need somebody
To teach me a love song
Somebody
Willing to sing along
Somebody
That's good with harmony
To sing in octaves
Above and below me
I need somebody
To stand in my chorus line
Somebody
To sing with me for life
Somebody
To put their name on it
Somebody willing
To sing it with me to the end

Good Lord what have we done
Can we not see what we've become
Choosing sides in our back bites
In that where is the love

Do you remember where you were
The day the world learned to hurt
As sisters and brothers turned on each other
Could you be part of the cure

Are we all now in the dark
About our wicked hardened hearts
Much more gullible than ever pliable
Is that who we all now are

When did we decide to choose sides
In this game of do or die
When did hate become our playmate
And then proceed to destroy our lives

Is it too late to turn back
Could there even be a chance
Or is it too late to find a loving word in kind
With what little time we have left

As we're standing on the edge
Thinking we're hedging all our bets
We'll slip and slide right off the side
Being this close to the edge