we face a choice
not between two options
but between what we can do
and what we must do
and I cannot tell you
which must be chosen
but you must make your decision
and stick to it

do not shy away
do not regret
the choice was made
and only the present
exists

fear not yesterday or tomorrow
worry only about today

you’re still breathing right?
still reading this poem?
still sitting in your chair?
still loving your loves?
still existing?

keep that up

keep making the choice
keep trying to be better
keep being yourself

we face a choice,
but trust yourself
to make the right
decision

and
you will.

it must’ve rained
those days Jesus was dead
nobody probably knew why
or even that it mattered
but when the sun finally shone
through the clouds on Easter
I’m sure someone
finally realized
that it was a big deal

I am alone again in the dark.
I can smell the scent of my own fear.
My heart in cinders melts out from my chest,
If you were to touch me right now,
We would blend into one.
But you do not,
As you have not,
for such a long time now.
I never expected it to be fair,
But how perfect if it had been.
If our own disfigured selves were fit together,
Puzzle pieces that had gone missing suddenly found again,
Filling up the obnoxious gaps present in our lives,
Our picture completed,
leaving us in complete happiness.

I get wrapped up in you all day
I get lost in ur gaze
I lose focus
Only thinking about the way your lips move as you speak
You get me so high
So high
I'm up there
Conversing with airplanes
And hot air balloons
And there is no convincing this girl to come down
Because the view from up here is indescribable
It's roof tops
And ridges
It's mixed messages
And anxious waiting
I could end the torture
Release the strain
Cut the string
And let the high bring me down
But I've become wrapped up in it
It's the blanket that keeps me warm at night
It's the song the plays over and over on the interstate
And I drive towards you
But I think it's the best thing I've ever driven towards
And you open me up
Like a book
You read every line
And memorize every word
Because u and I have become a short story
Written in a black ink
But never binded.
Printed
But never read.
Hoped for
But unfinished business.
And I'm ok with that
Because I have a memory of the way you move against me when you sleep
I can recall how your eyes look when your truly happy.
And I know just how happy you are
Because you may be the best friend a girl like me could ever ask for
And hey
Maybe you have a Contact high too.

This poem is for the girls and guys in limbo
Somewhere between love and lust
Up the dark road
Inside the cold box
This ones for you.
For u sweet dreamer
For the girls lusting for the boys who have only followed the trail of perfection
This is for the nerdy guys
Afraid of the way she flips her hair
And his own shadow
This is for the friend zone
Those who tip toe cautiously
Reading mixed signs
And deciphering smoke signals
This is for you
This is for heartachers
And the people that will never know there own doing.
This is for the girls who say no
And for the boys who don't know there power
This is for I love you's
Whispered under breath
This is for the crushes
And the people that love them
This is for the traded glances
And the misinterpretation
This for the hours wasted
And tears that have fallen
Fallen long enough to build you an ocean
Like a mote
to place around your heart
This ones for you dark forecasters
And glass half fullers
This ones for the poets and the phone calls
This is for the obsessing
The morris code blessing
And this ones for the confession
Those that take there pride and tuck it between their legs
This is for you
Stand tall
Tall enough to crane your neck to see the horizon
Because this may look different on the other side.
This is for the hopefuls
Those who love and still believe
This is for the love lyrics written
And those that repeat there songs
This is for you.

I’ll forgive you.
I’ll forgive you, though not from the heart
Not even from any other significant
Body part
I’ll forgive you quickly, a reflex.
But from my elbows
Or from my teeth
Or from the space right behind my knees
I’ll find forgiveness to give you there.
But not the heart
No, that’s rare.

If forgiveness is a gift then my
Gift to you is cheap
I’ve cheated you just as you’ve cheated me.
My tongue says, “I forgive you”
But my eyes say, “I’m still hurting.”
So here, take my gift-
My ankle, my appendix, my right earlobe…
And I’ll say we’re fine, I’m fine, wholesome and cool.
And here I am, a smatter of lies,
A fool of a fake plastic heart protected and tucked away.
I’ll forgive you
But I probably got it from Dollarama
Or Army and Navy
I’m a bunch of puzzle pieces connected with tape and glue.
Here take it. Just take it! This unimportant ***** is for you!

And now I’m quickly
Running out of places to find spare parts…

Like drinking water out of mason jars
Like reading through fake plastic glass
Like dressing in your grandparents bolts of fabric
Like holding an unfiltered cigarette
Or even better a wooden pipe…
Smoke swelling in closed mouths
And nostrils blowing in sailboat clouds
Down to the next not- Starbucks
To sit on a velvet couch with
Coral painted nails and a chai in hand...
You all can be like this.
With no workout clothes and
With at least two piercings in your nose
You all are like this soon enough.
Who gave you the idea to pick up the
Ukulele anyway?
Who gave you the idea to shave one quarter
Of your head?

We all did. We all are a
Fleet of individual sameness,
A want to stand out from the
Cookie- cutter looks,
But now we’re all cupcakes
With the same story but with
Different hooks
For hands, snagging the rest
Of us along.
With your identical twin lipstick
And Birkenstock feet.
The lack of shock we absorb
Gets lonely and depressing.
So lets all move to Montreal
And French kiss and knit
And maybe real soon the
Croissants will go stale
And it’ll be cool to live
In Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.