Poetry

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

My dread of math -

infinite.

Why must it be so complicated?

Math reasoning may be the authority on your scoring sheets

but it's not the boss of me.

Because there is no math reasoning.

I used to joke

you all were

friend-stealers

stealing him from me

I was

mostly kidding

guess what?

You didn't.

You couldn't.

Nothing could.

I

walk

in a 

line

between the guys

the preppies

the in-betweens

when brought into anything

I will

high five smile

playful banter

whatever

            555 Far Away College Dorm
            City with No Cornfields, Peach State 
            661.9 Miles Away, USA 

Trusting 

  f

   a

    l

     l

      i

       n

        g

We the people sing,

We don’t want to have a king.

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

Acceptance for every adult and child.

All the people rise,

We cry our anger to the skies.

We the people proclaim,

We are the people.

The girl who wears every scar like a trophy.

The boy who struggles with reading.

The kid who protests for their rights.

The mother who works 3 jobs to pay the bills.

I still remember how the railings felt,

The ones we used lean against at the bus stop.

We would grab the rusted bars 

And lean back and scream against

The cold air.

/look/i can balance a spoon on my nose/it will stay longer if i breathe on it first/don’t bump me!/or else it will fall/don’t leave me/or else i shall be lonely./

/white face/rosy cheeks/a round red clown nose/50 years ago he stood on stage/people know him as August/he dies in September/a month late./

“I’m good at poetry, I just don’t like it very much.

It’s one of those things where if you do it enough for school, you get just as good as someone who likes it.”