I wish this world we both stand on wasn't yours, but only mine
you took so much from me but we still have to share the things I love the most
The moon in the sky I ponder at is also yours to look at when you please
The air that fills my lungs and allows me to breathe is also yours to inhale
The same water that flows from my faucets is connected to yours allowing you to drink
The earth i stand on is also yours to walk
The sun that basks me in its light and warmth is also yours to enjoy and savor
so far away...but never far enough

I don't know where you are
And frankly, I don't care
Because the air tastes so much sweeter
Without you here.

Kin
by Michael R. Burch

for Richard Moore

1.
Shrill gull,
how like my thoughts
you, struggling, rise
to distant bliss—
the weightless blue of skies
that are not blue
in any atmosphere,
but closest here ...

2.
You seek an air
so clear,
so rarified
the effort leaves you famished;
earthly tides
soon call you back—
one long, descending glide ...

3.
Disgruntledly you ***** dirt shores for orts
you pull like mucous ropes
from shells’ bright forts ...

You eye the teeming world
with nervous darts—
this way and that ...

Contentious, shrewd, you scan—
the sky, in hope,
the earth, distrusting man.

Published by Triplopia. Able Muse and The HyperTexts

Keywords/Tags: Gull, sky, blue, atmosphere, air, sea, tides, waves, shores, shells, flight, glide, man, world, trust, distrust

Oops all of a sudden we are shunning to come out
though our bird by design laughs all the way to Mars.
We don't want to because of a coronavirus bug
but it isn't an alien came out from the far
the monster broke out from our very thin air!

Come, see our space bird the spacecraft
hops up on to the solar world like a breeze
as if flying one tree to the other tree.
Hang on its yet to sing the story
from our epic album of technology.

As it crosses the trap the Van Allen Belt
it goes through like a seasoned pro
and blinds the moon on the first go!
Oh amazing what it sees on the next mo
a man-made bird in Mars landed its foot.

Our space bird spreads the wings
far from the Moon from the Jupiter
tweeting from our science pages at par
from the planet after planet raising the bar.

But now all stay home it's risky to walk far
perhaps we forgot the unseen hole is deeper
what's lurking nearby then the black hole afar.
Where the moon lits candlelight isn't by the stars
far from venus over the sea is closer to us!

My feet feel the cool touch of the grass as I tip toe across the lawn. These long summer nights hold such a blissful innocence about them. Even in growing up, working at a desk job, and paying all the bills, I still feel like a kid when I am surrounded by fireflies in the cool, refreshing twilight air of a Wednesday night in June.

On my checkered blanket, the wind rustles the grass around me and each blade begins to dance to a song you can hear if you are quiet enough...

Distant wind chimes ringing, the breeze rustling the branches, the cicadas chip both near and far, a frog family croaks from the creek near by. There are few moments in this world where peace can wash over someone. In this moment, on the ground, in my PJs, I, a 20 something tired warrior, shine my flashlight toward the sky above in awe so that I may add my light to the infinate chorus above.

The serene nights of summer take me back to a time much simpler. A time when our only worries were 'can we get all of our adventures done in the time before we have to go to sleep?'. A time I go back to every June, just to feel that closeness, that humanity that I so crave. We are more than this zombie-like figure that takes over our bodies each day. We are creative and imaginative. We are fun loving and kind. We are children at heart and we need to stop depriving that child of the happier things in life.




-t.s.

I'm at the point now where even the weight of air on my skin hurts.