Poetry

poison berries, so simple yet seductive,

Brambles beckoning like a throne beckons to

a Crown —sinking its thorns deep as if they grew

It's cold outside so I shiver.

It's hot inside, so I sweat.

I'm starting to freeze, starting to crack.

The words, the thoughts build up in my chest

Trying to climb up into my throat

But I won't let them

                                                          anyone

Do you remember that tall tree 

with the wide trunk and knotted roots? 

The one that stood alone in the middle 

of a wide field that seemed to stretch for miles?  

No? You don't? 

Noise

Warming up

Keys

Fingerings

Chatter

Laughter

The chorale

Stopping

Starting

"Again"

"I know you can do better than that"

Serious but

You also love it

Cornered

I put my hands up

Like you taught me

Only now

You're the one attacking

"Helping" because

You "just want me to feel better"

And I braced for impact

I am tormented by slight movements

even silence is hurting me

reality seems to be strobing

or something like it -

I've yet to learn how to explain these moments to others,

even myself.

It's not normal,

now I sit in the orchard

Apples, pears, and plums filter the sunlight

it shines through in thread-width rays

pure and packed with heat

unmeasurable in inches

unmeasurable in its own way

How can it be that I cannot exist without and with her

Sometimes I like to imagine we have the same eyes, brown with glints of green and yellow, like a sprouting garden in spring.

Cursed.

Am I cursed?

Cursed to tie myself to people, swearing that they’re going to be different.

Only for resentment to grow like ivy, sentencing me to a place of discontent.

I’ve called it paranoia.

i think i know why aliens haven't visited us. they're 

definitely watching with rapt attention, waiting 

to see how we climb the highest wall 

humanity built for ourselves in the past 

What is done alone can be done together, 

with anger can turn love, 

with hope there will always be a light.