humble hearts

to be human

is to be

a survivor

believe me

pain spares no one

not even the one 

who marks their door

with the blood

of a lamb

life always has

a way

of humbling

every heart

*Performed at Art Inspiring Art (Brown’s Run Country Club) on 8/30/19

children of light

after the abuse

i burned myself

alive

then scooped up

those ashes

created sculptures

of doves

of roses

and told the match

in my hand

children of light

never truly die

*Performed at Art Inspiring Art (Brown’s Run Country Club) on 8/30/19

rape. Things you learn from family

*Published in the August 2019 edition of is/let
**Reprinted in Haiku 2020 (Modern Haiku Press)

and then I heard the Psalms dueling the dead of night

*Published in the August 2019 edition of is/let

within

the spiraled cactus

old stars

*Published in the August 2019 issue of Stardust Haiku

Salve

Every once in a while, I just need to lie down on the floor, close my eyes, and listen to some good old-fashioned blues.

mm-hmm

when the record

scratches my itch

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 8/24/19

winding smoke

your always

twisted truth

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 8/18/19

so light the match 

tonight

there will be no rest

not while black knots

sink into my core

you i

i you

in the end where

there is only oblivion

in the end where

i become death

where i trap you under

my soot-sullied boots

where the only word

i breathe is blaze

within the fire

within the fire

to start again

within the fire

within the fire

*Published in The Ekphrastic Review’s Mark Rothko Writing Challenge on 8/16/19

of all

that I could touch

this pond

became music

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 8/10/19; reprinted on 8/14/19 with a correction 

oolong

why rush

this moment

*Published by Fresh Out: An Arts and Poetry Collective on 8/4/19

sonata

when the sun

hangs low

*Published in Otata 44 (August 2019)