storm
a storm is coming
the birds feel it in their wings
give squawks of dismay
haiku abuse #1
sometimes late at night
I think there’s a reason that
ev’rything happens
bathroom thoughts
bathroom thoughts are like
dreams of sand and water that
slip through my fingers
Asking Too Much
One of those things which I really wish I wrote:
“I want you to tell me about every person you’ve ever been in love with.
Tell me why you loved them, then tell me why they loved you.
Tell me about a day in your life you didn’t think you’d live through.
Tell me what the word “home” means to you
And tell me in a way that I’ll know your mothers name just by the way you describe your bed room when you were 8.See, I wanna know the first time you felt the weight of hate and if that day still trembles beneath your bones.
Do you prefer to play in puddles of rain or bounce in the bellies of snow?
And if you were to build a snowman, would you rip two branches from a tree to build your snowman arms?
Or would you leave the snowman armless for the sake of being harmless to the tree?
And if you would, would you notice how that tree weeps for you because your snowman has no arms to hug you every time you kiss him on the cheek?Do you kiss your friends on the cheek?
Do you sleep beside them when they’re sad, even if it makes your lover mad?
Do you think that anger is a sincere emotion or just the timid motion of a fragile heart trying to beat away its pain?See, I wanna know what you think of your first name.
And if you often lie awake at night and imagine your mothers joy when she spoke it for the very first time.
I want you tell me all the ways you’ve been unkind.
Tell me all the ways you’ve been cruel.
Tell me—knowing I often picture Gandhi at ten years old beating up little boys at school.
If you were walking by a chemical plant, where smoke stacks were filling the sky with dark, black clouds, would you holler, “Poison! Poison! Poison!” really loud or would whisper, “That cloud looks like a fish, and that cloud looks like a fairy”?Do you believe that Mary was really a virgin?
Do you believe that Moses really parted the sea?
And if you don’t believe in miracles, tell me, how would you explain the miracle of my life to me?
See, I wanna know if you believe in any god, or if you believe in many gods.
Or better yet, what gods believe in you.
And for all the times you’ve knelt before the temple of yourself, have the prayers you’ve asked come true?
And if they didn’t did you feel denied?
And if you felt denied, denied by who[m]?I wanna know what you see when you look in the mirror on a day you’re feeling good.
I wanna know what you see in the mirror on a day a day you’re feeling bad.
I wanna know the first person who ever taught you your beauty could ever be reflected on a lousy piece of glass.If you ever reach enlightenment, will you remember how to laugh?
Have you ever been a song?
Would you think less of me if I told you I have lived my entire life a little off key and I’m not nearly as smart as my poetry.
I just plagiarized the thoughts of the people around me who have learned the wisdom of silence.Do you believe that concrete perpetuates violence?
And if you do I want you to tell me of a meadow where my skateboard will soar.
See, I wanna know more than what you do for a living.
I wanna know how much of your life you spend just giving.
And if you love yourself enough to also receive sometimes.
I wanna know if you bleed sometimes through other people’s wounds.
And if you dream sometimes that this life is just a balloon that if you wanted to you could pop—but you never would because you’d never want it to stop.If a tree fell in the forest, and you were the only one there to hear it, if its fall to the ground didn’t make a sound, would you panic in fear that you didn’t exist or would you bask in the bliss of your nothingness?
And lastly, let me ask you this: if you and I went for a walk, and the entire walk we didn’t talk, do you think eventually we’d kiss?
No way.
That’s askin’ too much—after all, this is only our first date.”- Andrea Gibson
The sound of silence
I could tell you what every silence means
every pregnant pause
every break in my sentences
every moment lost
I could analyse every hesitation
every shake of my head
every comma, every period
every un-uttered word
I could explain every downcast gaze
every single sigh
I could put every breath in its place
If only you’d ask why.
real
I abandoned my dreams for something real
only to find that it did not fulfil
in the city
You are the old immigrants
who arrived with the ancient ships;
drifted in on the wind.
Now you’re living life
on the ledge of a building;
in the drains and gutters;
in the cracks and crevices of walls and pavements.
You make nests of mortar and cement,
glued to the undersides of bridges,
fastened on rooftops.
You used to rely on starlight,
now the golden lights confuse you,
the glass walls reflect your eyes back at you.
You used to need the pull of the tides,
the bracing sea breeze,
but now the buildings will do.
Here, you are forced to
wind your circadian clock to the pulse of the traffic,
huddle around subway air vents in the winter to keep warm.
Here, where you’ve gathered like mayflies to a light,
where the grass is greener,
better fertilized, well-trodden;
where the concrete eats into the forest.
Here, in your city built with ashes and asphalt;
dreams and souls,
you find substitutes for the life your ancestors used to know,
hoping that your descendants won’t know the difference.
And on some nights, you realize that this is the only world you have;
your worldview restricted to a single city.
Your city shines bright,
but it’s just another star
in an infinite universe.
just a girl
I am a girl, and I am entitled to
skip among the fallen leaves
dance in the rain
sing madly
walk in the falling snow til ice crystals collect in my hair
run until it hurts;
walk alone under a dark sky
look up at the lone bright star and
wish for you
I am a girl, and I am entitled to
feel this way.
wreathed
and he sees her wreathed in flames
like the devil herself
slowly
roiling
a dark place
She seeks out a dark place
to watch the city from, watch it glow
like jewels on a dark sea.
She takes a dark road
alone, within herself
the wind, the stars in her hair.
