I remember a time
Last year
When I'd wake up
Wanting nothing more
Than just to go back to bed

But then I met a girl
And I became happy
And I loved her
And I didn't even
Have to wait for my alarm
Every morning

Eventually,
My happiness spread
And I started getting
Out of bed
For other friends;
Other things

And that girl
Became jealous
And worried,
Evidently rightly,
That I'd stop needing her
And I'd want to move on

And somehow,
Ironically in large part
Because of her fears,
Because of her worries
Both of those things
Became true

And now
I almost dread
Getting up again
And I always
Just want to be asleep
Because I don't want her
To keep being sad

Yesterday
I saw someone
Texting
During a documentary
About Syria
And I wrote
A lot of poems
About it
But today,
Sitting here,
Sipping
At my Capri Sun,
I don't feel
Like there's any less
Justification
For me
To be at
The center
Of my poems
Than that person
Texting so
Here's a poem
About me

Every cigarette,
Every addictive inhale
Of warmth
And nicotine,
Keeps me farther
Away from you
And father
Away from myself
So-
“Can I have another cigarette?”-
And my friends laugh at me
Knowing that
I notoriously
Don't smoke
But I'm handed one
Anyway

You see I didn't know
What an asparagus plant
Looked like
Until today
And the fact that you
Would understand
My horror
When faced with
That ignorance
Is one of the most
Liberating things
In the world

And even if
All the meaning
We derived
From the other night
Was drug enduced
And maybe mistaken
I still can't wait
To show you
That asparagus plant
And watch your eyes
As they watch me

The last leaf
On the oak tree falls
In the tradition
Of the first
And now the branches
Are bare
And Winter has come
And Ubuntu
Means nothing

Sometimes
I write poems
Instead of learning
Because learning
Too often
Means too much
Of nothing
To me

Syria may be falling-
And though you'll be told
Syria's fall doesn't mean
Yours,
It means a fall
For all of us

And though I never wanted
To understand
Why you hurt yourself-
I understand you
And you
Are so much
Like me.