Poetry

Tears

But you can’t see them.

Maybe you feel them, though

In my forced smile

In my eyes

Teacher to student, but you’ve never made it feel like that

You’ve always made us feel like equals

We sat on a bench,

Huddled beneath a blanket,

Cocooning,

Trying to trap body heat.

It was freezing -

First day of summer break at the beach with friends,

And we’re all cold.

it's hard to remember when/ 

when the throat begins to scratch at the mouth, begging to be let free

when the stomach begins its churning waves like an upset ocean god

it is dark at night 

not the type of dark 
i may envy 

the type that frightens me 

the unknowing of the present 

We peeled off your name tag on your cubby.

We cleared it out. You took your stuff home.

It's empty now.

Lonely and sad and cold.

I hate it.

Your name is no longer there.

Everyone is pushing us into next year.

Pushing, pulling

All the time.

The eighth graders left yesterday.

I went to their graduation.

I tried to smile.

I cried a lot.

I have a lot of in between people.

The people I don't consider to be friends

But they're not my enemies, either.

The people I don't care about enough

To be awkward around

But also can't really goof off with

I realized recently

That there’s the family you don’t have a choice in -

Your biological parents, siblings, cousins -

And then there’s the family you do.

The family you share no blood with

But choose anyway.

i say goodbye and yet i find myself thinking about you again

i think about you in the weeping willow

singing a song of emotions that i do not know

i wonder if given the opportunity

I always said that it’d be the best day when I leave this school

But I’m not so sure now.

Sure, it wasn’t always easy,

But I gained so much good:

The best teacher I’ve ever had.

The confidence I always needed.

Arrows and 

Men alike

both shall 

break and shatter 

at the means 

of the other 

Look to the sky

for salvation

He was a sacrifice 

yet he did the same

Now he is Immortal

What are you

besides dead?