Running away from yourself

Shows you have the strength to run

And it’s ok to run away for a while

Just make sure you come back

The butterfly lay on the ground
Fluttering and screaming
Someone had hit it
With their big machines
Knocking it to the ground
With her babies nearby
Someone with no heart
Someone who took no pride in life
She couldn’t tell me her pleas
I couldn’t understand her agony
She was in pain I could see
Distressed little one
Delicate we had to be
Got her wings straight
She will fly again
Hope she repairs fully
She looks worn but still pretty
How could anyone just leave it
Still alive or not
From here or not
Rich or not
Speaking the same tongue or not
Is the conscience dead
Or are some just not born with one?

All flesh is perishable
Fragile and breakable
Old spotted and wrinkled
We are more than just stats
More than a credit score
More than a number
Cherish any life while you can

My hand was so skinny
Yours strong and gentle
We connected them together
So nervous to touch
We were the observatory
The new couple
How did we look?
I felt safe
Yours so warm
A mans hands I never held
In this way for love
I still grab these hands
When I feel sad and or glad
Always to feel safe
Even to calm my cries
Or my pains
There to heal me
Make me know everything’s ok
They are so smart
They teach
They write
But best of all they hold me
And they said “I do” and
They most certainly do
Thank you for having two

We are paying with our time
We are paying with our money
We even pay with our health
To watch people
Get paid to pretend
To be other people

The cuties got old quick
By being too ripe
I drew faces on them instead
Husband and wife

They aren’t really knickknacks
But I woulda had them encased
I liked them so much
They have a super cute face

They are still on my desk
Rosie discolored
Paul has a mustache
I’m sad to throw them in the trash

But they gotta go soon
Yes life even for a cutie to treasure
Shouldn’t of been so sour
I woulda eaten you with pleasure

I propose we call Tuesday
What it really is
Being only two days in
It only exists for tacos
Very little humor
I now pronounce you
Monday Jr.

You make me laugh
We crack ourselves up
Over the silly things we say

It’s so much more than a smile
It’s so much more than a touch
You need me and I need you

Rewind 28 years plus:

You were so serious I thought
When I used to look at your picture
How old is this guy anyway?

Your serious ‘stache,  your serious poems
I saw those books at your grandmas home
They seemed so deep to me

Little did I know
You had lots more to show
First thing you said to me “read this poem”

Is this the guy with the blue notebooks?
The guy who seems too old for me
He seems very genuine, guess we will see.

You wanted to know what I thought
No one cared before
I was too quiet for my own good

Flattered you asked
It was a subject I knew
It let me know you were deep as a welllll... let’s see were this goes

Fast forward 28 years plus:

I sit here laughing
Because you made me
I know what your thinking

You sit there laughing
Because I made you
You know what I’m thinking

Me and you, you and me
Who knew from day one
You hooked me with a read

Deep down I think you knew
I was the girl for you
You needed me to hear you

Deep down I think I knew
You were the boy for me
I needed to hear you too

It’s almost unspoken
To know someone this way
You needed me and I needed you

Some people enjoy complaining
It makes them happy to gripe

But who complains about the complainers?

I’m even going to complain about the word complain, complain, complain, complain. It’s annoying.

Do we feel better now? Sure do.

Woke at 4 am
Silent and dark
Stillness surrounded
That sound? Is it in the park?

I can hear it off in the near distance
But I don’t know what it is
Outside critters perhaps
Don’t breath so I can hear

What is that noise
It sounds like clicking
Is that baby opossum out there
Or is it a kitten

I can’t tell if it’s inside
or out
It’s driving me crazy
It’s giving me doubt

I hold still at first quietly
Get up to take closer peep
I still can’t figure it out
Everything else is still asleep

My amazing investigation
Finally figured it out, oh please
It’s the giant broken clock!

Saying...go...back...to...sleep

A mournful sound of a train
I’m not sure why
Makes me want to cry

Is it saying I’m going now
Like it’s saying goodbye
I might never see you again

Or is it saying i will be back soon
Wait for me
Don’t move

Pitiful mourning in the night
When everything is sleeping
Searing soulfully in the mist

Why does this sound
evoke emotion like this
I get up so it can speak to me

I grew up with it
It’s familiar to this child
A long comforting hug

Maybe it’s the strength
Maybe it’s the speed
Maybe it’s the a far off loud

A need to keep hearing
It's only a whistle
Holding in my memory

Standing in my doorway
After an evening out with friends
He asked can I give you a kiss
I said yes
But I kept giggling
And giggling
Every time he got close
I kept giggling
I kept giggling
I couldn't stop
Obvious nerves
He waited so patient for me to stop
But I didn’t stop
Finally he covered my eyes

First kiss

Would you stop writing because all the best words have already been said?

Would you stop reading because all the deepest poetic things have already been read?

Would you stop enjoying food because all the best recipes have already been created?

Would you stop painting because all the best masterpieces have already been painted?

Would you stop giving because there’s nothing left to give?

Share all the words, thoughts, visions and beautiful things that give you a reason to live.

"What do you look like without your makeup?"

Like a grown child.

Why?

What do you look like without your mask?

Fresh washed P.E. clothes
The scent of fruity erasers
Blue eyeliner learning it’s place
A clear cool purse
Jelly shoes

My pink overalls are so cool
My teddy bear sweatshirt keeps me trendy and warm
My french braid hides my long hair
Because short hair rules

Oh the horror...
I forgot my homework!
Wearing grandmas ring
Silently made fun of by the popular
I miss elementary playground

Silent I sit speaking to no one
Maybe my one friend
Headaches daily
I don’t want to come here
Give me a note

P.E. clothes stink
Mom said no more blue eyeliner
Clear purse and erasers...stolen
And guess what?

You get to do this all over again

Only bigger

Stop feeding the fickle ones and they will go away.

Keep feeding the loyal ones and they will stay.

The fickle won’t starve for you.

But the loyal know they need you to survive.

Will it make you full of joy?
Will it be too many calories?
Will it make you worry?
Will it help you not worry?
Will it make you have regrets?
Will it make you sick?
Will it be calling your name?
Will it make you happy?
Will it satisfy you?
For... how ...long?
If you can, you should.
If you can’t, then don’t.

A roach came to work with me
in my shoe.

It's a true story.

I shook him out of my laces

And he joined in with a new group
of bugs on the ground.

He can get renter's insurance for
$10 a month.

I'm back, eating lunch in the car
by the path.

And cake.

That's a start.

She looks good without it too,
but she's like 25, so...

She doesn't work at Target anymore:
She goes thru jobs like hairdos.

Her kids are trying to find her a husband.
I caught myself making a 'why?' face
and I had to auto correct it
because I was actually talking to her.

She said the only men her age who want marriage
really only want a cook or caregiver.

Now we know why you're single.

I love Fall time

I love the colors

We came to be an official couple in the Fall

But I almost died

In the Fall as well

That day had so many things, smells, places

You saved my life twice

I was thinking of the way
the air felt today

How it reminded me of Fall

Then all I wanted to do was cry

Dual trauma

Just each is different

I get that ugly feeling everything will be
taken away from me

Now I understand why