After we buried
my grandma
in the soft, easy soil
and threw white flowers
over her
glossy coffin, 
I joined my brother
in his car. 
He drove and drove
and the road was
devoured by gasoline
and wheels. 
I thought of 
Newton's First Law. 
An object in motion
stays in motion
until an outside force
disrupts it. 
Maybe life is the object
and death is the 
outside force. 
My brother snapped the silence. 
"Dang, I'm hungry,"
he said. 
I briefly exited
a rabbit hole
of thoughts
deep down in my brain. 
I somehow managed 
to piece together
a sentence. 
"We have dino nuggets 
at home."
For the first time
in hours, our somber
expressions lifted
and flew away
like Peter Pan. 
My brother grinned
and said, "Heck yeah!
Let's get some dino nuggets."
The absurdity 
of the situation

Once upon a time,
an ambitious young girl
decided that her modest life
was not enough.
She believed that her kingdom
could not hold her soul
within its barriers.
She left her home,
bidding farewell to all she had ever known.
She gazed up at the stars,
watched as their brilliant glow
held hands to make constellations.
She wondered if one day
she might glow that brilliantly.

The young girl
ventured through her kingdom,
her hand in a perpetual wave
as she began to
let go of her childhood,
tie memories into knots,
and, finally,
leave her former self behind.

She came to a cave,
shaking in the freezing air.
She hesitantly called out,
and was met with a group of ogres.
They watched her, and whispered
of all the terrible ways
they could cook her up and feast upon her bones.
She heard their whispers,