??????????
to open up the locket, you must step into the truth. if lies are what you're living, the only way out is proof. the clock is slowly ticking, the floors are rotting through. when nothing is left to chance, what will you choose to do?
wisdom tooth
i turn my head away to ease some of the pain but i can't outrun the ache.
exothermic
combusting and bursting, i'm burning with love
combusting and bursting, i'm burning with love
it's hot when you hold me, can we keep this up?
crossword puzzle
an animal of prey at the close of a day.
wings tilt to the light and the sky gives way.
mud on the talon, a river held still,
evening taught slowly to bend to its will.
opposed to less? the answer is more.
what puzzle is this, what opens the door?
a written acknowledgement folded in air,
signed by a bird without knowing its care.
a fibre of palm threaded into wing,
carried like something to fragile to sing.
what we all should be? briefly awake.
a daydream learning the shape it can take.
the plural of is moves quietly through,
turning a single into something like me and you.
found on the seashore, salt on the skin.
an aromatic plant growing inward, within.
iron remembers, wood learns to bend and let go.
a boy discovers where choices can end and where he can grow.
to cultivate means to listen and wait.
to govern is knowing what not to create.
one becomes many, night loosens its hold.
light leaves the dark without asking for gold.
this puzzle is fun, but not without cost.
it asks what is kept, and what can be lost.
nothings left to chance, only what fits.
the answer arrives, then quietly sits.
date: 12/23/25
friendship is magic
from this tree i'll grow my own branches of fruit,
not sweet for the taking, but strong in their proof.
let us bloom into one flower of youth, a labor of love
clear enough to see through.
lend a hand on the land that i've made for you,
to resist the doubt that is beating me through,
that old rhythm that says i should leave or i'll lose.
anything that i do, know that it is for you, i confess
to this truth, i'll move mountains for you, not to
carry your weight, but to walk where you choose.
this isn't a romance, it's a tempo of trust,
it's knowing when silence counts and when sound is a must.
date: 1/8/26
inexorable
i make a wish, i make a witch of myself
my tongue trips over the truth of it
the weight i feel is the weight of myself
pushing down to get throught to it
and lately i linger in the after of saying
the almost's, the not-yet's, the what if's, and maybe's
and i wonder if you feel the pull of it too
this pressure, this tether, this thread that connects me to you
or if i'm just pacing inside my own echo
mistaking the sound of myself for a lead
i'd rather the truth come out tangled and bitten
than sit here dissolving inside me
if it cuts on the way up, if it stutters and slips
at least it arrived with the mark of it's weight
so i hold to the wanting, let it bend and consume
and i'll keep pushing through it, even if all i reach
is the shape of myself holding on to what she once knew
date: 12/31/25
introvert
i'm very fond of the idea of being away from people, immense change comes with immense upheaval--the digging through and throwing out of things you thought you've ride of already. like the lone sock hidden in your dresser drawer, it's other half lost to the ether.
getting older
...
but still i listen underwater
for a word, a thread, a dawn, a daughter
then comes soft
a tiny bird of blade and gleam
half born from some forgotten dream
beats its wings against the dark
cutting through my swollen heart
i hold it close; it splits me wide
and childhood light pours back inside
34 or not, i see
the sun still writes its name on me
and though my wounds are far from pure
i know the cause i'm fighting for
a stranger sent, a daughter sworn
water blessed and fountain born
date: 10/31/25
a poem for drew
splintered mirror, half of my reflection
the light is bending sharp against the floor
my body's guessing, short circuiting, my lines
are fraying all along the edges
i can't keep up with the noise of me's,
my voice is omnipresent, suppressing all the bigger
things, my mind just can't accept it
if i let the night forgive me will i step into the truth?
if i get a brand new body will my heart beat black or blue?
drew walks just like an echo, body funny, pace
is strange, he's the ghost of something softer
pressed into my every vein, if i call him in the
morning will he answer back in me? if i carve
out all the difference is there anything to keep?
date: 3/8/25
Hollow Beast
there's a hollow carved into my chest,
and every night it refuses rest.
the wind slips in and makes a sound,
a trembling note the dark unwound.
and the shadows rising from my roots
are memories dressed in rage and soot.
there's no stillness i can wrest
from the hollow carved into my chest.
there's an animal pacing in my blood,
born of every forgotten flood.
it carries names i tried to lose,
old wounds the body didn't choose.
into the night its heartbeat creeps,
down where all my burried secrets sleep,
but it cannot take back the years
or silence what the wind still hears.
there's a clearing waiting inmy dreams,
beyond the snarl of memory's seams.
and in the dark i watch it gleam,
a place that feels like something clean.
beyond the rage that shaped my bark,
beyond the river and the stark
reminder of what i've outgrown,
there's a path that hums with what's unknown.
and someday, when the wind blows right,
when sorrow thins and branches lighten,
i think the hollow inside of me
will sing me where i'm meant to be.
date: 11/14/25
roselyn
roselyn, a rose in wind, thorn tucked in skin,
a pluck and you bleed through. a softended truth
your name already sings, a petal and a prayer but
no wind is whistling and no one is listening.
date: 10/1/25
Always and Forever
do flowers bloom in your dreams too?
is the forest lit in hues of green and blue?
i can't shake the feeling that you feel the same
your voice's still ringing, calling out my name.
i'll take you home, back where we're meant to be,
sitting on front porches drinking day old tea
and summer's here, july is creeping in and your
birthdays waiting on me, quiet questioning.
everything reminds me of what we were, i can't
escape it through music, i can't escape it through word.
i still sing our song, the one you played for me, back when
it was a little harder for me to fall asleep.
"always and forever, each moment with you is just like
a dream come true. and i know tomorrow will still be the same
'cause i've got a life of love that won't ever change."
date: 05/22/25
unfinished
no way to bring back what is lost
so i hum until my voice goes soft
to calm the upset of my heart
i'll give the day a brand new start
but in the troves of my own home
in valleys unbeknownst to most
there's an animal who's fast asleep
he's where all my deepest sorrows seep
ballad of a songbird
i land on parts
of you i know
branches thin
they bend, they go
i pick apart
the things you hide
tell myself
that it's just fine
puff my chest
again, again
maybe that's
what makes a man
i'd sing soft
if you'd come near
quiet songs
you'll never hear
second best
it fits just right
little bird
in too big sky
if i fall
tonight mid-flight
lungs give out
my chest is tight
would you come
or would you stay
window closed
and look away
i'd sing soft
if you'd come near
quiet songs
you'll never hear
second best
i wear it proud
little bird
still singing loud
date: 3/23/25