Skip to main content

I used to

I used to love the way you flip your hair, Or the way you always were kind. The way that you would stare At the Sun, whereas you’re the only thing in my mind. I used to love how you dress regardlessly Of what others might think. How you speak respectfully Even when people steal your drink. I used to love the way you do your nails, Pink or red… You use it as a weapon As my weak heart love all of these details. And you always match it with the season. I used to love how you dance at night, Putting your favorite songs on the radio. How you uplift your leg so high, That you fall on the carpet o

The Scariest Sound in the World

The Scariest Sound in the World
Is a knock on the door.
Whether it’s a demanding rap, rap, rap
Like thunder midday,
Or a gentle tap, tap, tap
Poisonously light.

The Scariest Sight in the World
Is a plain white envelope
You were not expecting.

I wish I had a time machine to go back
Just fifteen seconds earlier
To dispense them to the oblivion of nonexistence
And resign myself to the same.

Already

He knew that nothing lasted forever.
It was just that, they needed more time together
If not a lifetime, maybe just a few years.
To postpone the tears of his dear, daughter.
And the tearing, the early parting had caused
To his son, his beloved.

Some nights, in summer
When he'd look at the sky
And see a lonely star
Trying its best to shine 
With whatever strength it had left behind

Some nights, at the dinner table
He'd do the math of death:
One table, four chairs
Four chairs, three meals...

Count the drops

count the drops as they fall each one precious each one lost upon the flowers do they fall bringing beauty bringing life rocks do glisten in morning light sparkling brightly clean and bright drops did fall in morning light each one precious each one lost I would walk in light of day seeking something far away down the pathway wondering there seeking newest where I may drops did fall upon my path upon the soil within the dust along the way puddles form dark rich mud deeply lay I would somehow upon rocks stay avoiding puddles in my way yet to walk and traveled where within the puddles I mu

Raptor Dance

Two red-tailed hawks above the burbs. They dance
on waves of atmosphere. One takes a chance,
plummeting toward the other in romance.

Above the streets and roofs they soar and frolic,
their ardor to link up in air symbolic
of a less polluted age. My melancholic

mood has lifted like their wings have lifted,
bearing them to such heights. The world is gifted
at causing awe. They’re gone. The wind has shifted.

*
(Appeared in Snakeskin.)

Intact

Jewels rolled down your shirt—
for a moment, your shoulder turned to rain.
We lifted our eyes to that infinite blue
and just as swiftly, twilight fell again:
another star kindled beyond the sky’s edge.

I’d fold a thousand cranes for you,
or chase a million scattered stars.
What fate is this, where light refuses to dim?
Where debts of love lie quietly unpaid?
I see it now—our severed threads unspun,
yet feel thee near; we were never that far.

My tears have blurred the Milky Way.
Still—one day,
we’ll trace each other’s shadow back.

Subscribe to New Poems