reflection

But its different than the time
I was lonely by the radio
&Grandma walked in
&shook her head
Shaming me for being
alone
when the other kids
were playing catch
but I was afraid
they would call me names again
&by the age of 10
I was too tired to fight back
But I was too young
To know I wasn't supposed to be sad
I was still a child
&maybe a smile
Would have worked better
But Grandma was busy
&in her own head
Like I am now
Though I make it a point
To never shake my head
At a lonely child
Unless Im looking
In the mirror.

nah, its just allergies.

&maybe you will be out
&would like a drink
So I can smile
As I walk by
&that would be the furthest
We go.
Farther than I have ever been
&it would be enough
To see you at peace
Surrounded by song
&laughing with old friends
While the ice melts
In my cheap cocktail
&your laughter
Is the only sound
That carries over
The constant clatter of
Happy hour specials
&bad jokes about office politics
&It might not mean much to you;
Small talk over 2 for 1 specials
But I love the questions
&No one else seems to ask
If Im writing another poem
&I blush because I’m flattered
But I will say it’s just allergies,
Hoping we bloom.

Birthday Reflections

Such painful beauty
I ache for your enlightenment
27 years of not trying
Not trying to find you
Or figure out who you are;
Why you love so darkly
& need so desperately
To be somebody-
Scratch that;
To be somebody’s somebody

Alleys

Walking through the alley
Bums sunbathing
In cheap liquor
A nervous dog
Pissing &ashamed
Pulverized glass &pork grease
On the streets surface
Hits the sunlight
Glisten like diamonds
Fool’s gold.

Untitled.

&though we met
as saplings, we grew
stretching gnarled limbs
to the heavens.
Branches twisting, turning
each tree swaying among
the skyline. filling in the gaps
of sunlight with our ambition
&our leaves, ever expanding
We were in constant bloom
Among tangled thorn
&hearty vine.