Poetry

you were always a constant to me.

there was a book in the back of our classroom

tucked between crates of other, more important tomes

it had a picture of you on the cover and i read it almost every day

her magenta marker

the silent clock

my desk, now darker

with dust like chalk.

his name in my phone

my swimming mind

his teeth were like moonstone, 

mouth open that night.

I can’t believe we call this a Democracy.

We voted, sure.

But did we really end up with a president?

Or do we now have a king?

Sure, his term is said to end in four years.

We stood up to a tyrant once.

And now it’s time to again.

We need to stand up for the rights we were supposed to get so long ago.

“All men are created equal.”

The people around me, my friends, my family, my peers.

I see them every day, barely talk to most of them.

But they are my community.

They know me, or parts of me.

The thing is,

I can't get over it.

It sticks in my memory

unforgettable

and I want it

but I know it was just

subconscious dreamland.

It was old

There’s a dog that sits on the end of my street—

he barks at anyone that nears,

snarling teeth that glow shiny in the afternoon light. 

There’s a dog that sits on the end of my street—

One day, I want to be as strong as my shadow;

waking up, running,

falling asleep, dreaming.

Made from muscled arms and soft angles. 

I dreamt

it was next year

everyone I loved was there

tall chairs

light work

not reality

everyone

perfect

I woke up and I felt his love

butterfly wings against my cheek

Driving home, nine at night.

I look up to stare at the stars,

But I can't tell the difference between the stars and satellites.

What a sad time,

50 fathoms crushing down 

Crashing waves on granite ground  

Whitecaps framed by fading sky 

High above  

On cliffs I lie

In a world of rose petal dawns

And freshly mowed lawns

And the warmth of a million suns

There lives a child

Meek and mild