Sunday, September 29, 2019

prelude
in D major
the sun’s slow ascent

*

free jazz
all at once
birdsong

*

syncopation
the wind
before the storm

*

coda
breathing in
day’s fall

*Published in the autumn 2019 edition of The Bamboo Hut

Friday, September 27, 2019

dynamite when prophesy blows my dust

*

not your ordinary eclipse the anvil of remembrance

*

dark matter unmaking our daily bread

*

going going gone the black of pitch

*

unsheathing daggers your bones expose the lie

*

one with Polaris and yet the amygdala kicks

*

divisible by infinity all that could have been

*

where your story ends I combust into a rose

*Published in my first e-chapbook: says the rose (Yavanika Press 2019)

Monday, September 16, 2019

It’s Not Insomnia If You Love It

within
the moon’s glow

I understood
why saints

fixed their eyes
upon the heavens

why artists
never sleep

*Published in Molecule: a tiny lit mag (Issue 1)

Sunday, September 15, 2019

I’m happy to announce that my first e-chapbook, says the rose (Yavanika Press 2019), is now available for download. You can view it for free here.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

omen
your
mouth
opens

*

wasp
sting
more
bullets
with
(in)
souls

*Published by Weird Laburnum on 9/10/19

Sunday, September 8, 2019

contents under pressure to be human

*Published in Issue 1.8 of Human/Kind Journal
**Nominated for The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Individual Poem Award by the editor

Saturday, September 7, 2019

if not for arias / I would have / breathed / in dirt

*

threading / a cosmos a garden / together / buck moon

*

the black / bird sings / why then / loaded guns

*Published in Otata 45 (September 2019)

Friday, September 6, 2019

the lake

there’s a lake
i watch each day
in her waves i see
diamonds
stars
and distant planets
i’ll only ever travel in dreams
she’ll never know
how much
she has healed my spirit 
in this life
except when i return 
to the source of all things
and embrace her hand
in thanks

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


let them in

if
you ever feel alone
go outside
and look up to the heavens
those clouds
those stars
are with you in this moment
they’ll share
your joys and aches
if
you let them in your heart

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

when i started to speak up
i barely recognized
my own voice
as if hearing it for the first time
i had to learn
its cadence and cracks
and let its imperfections 
feel safe
to my own ears and tongue

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

Thursday, September 5, 2019

everyday grace

if flowers only knew
how lovely
how special they are
they might develop an ego
as we humans
have a tendency to do
instead they share
their life without pretense
even when they wither
lose their petals
and breathe their last breaths
they do it with so much grace
you’d think a ballerina
was taking bow
after a solo in Swan Lake

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

this evening
i will take
the sun’s hand
in mine
and we shall roam
together
in the city of dreams
expertly weaving
fantasy and reality
until the moon
once again
exits the land

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

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

unsolved

there’s something unique
about the scent of fall
if i could describe it
i’d guess
a mix of cinnamon 
and brown sugar
or maybe patchouli
warmed by campfire smoke
but as much as i love
an answer
for every mystery
i shall let this one
remain unsolved

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

upon rising
from the world of sleep
i dare you
to lift your hands
towards the heavens
and give thanks
for blood rushing
through your veins
for breath coming
into your lungs
and for a mind
that still is able 
to comprehend
the meaning of blessed

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

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

just listen

it is easy
to discard thoughts
as if they are meaningless
as useful as trash
yet
if you pay close attention 
to the whirlwind of words
circling your mind
some of those musings
after all
might be beautiful enough
to be called art

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

hope is a candle
 buried deep within my soul
the flame has yet
to perish or tire
it persists
day and night
and like the flame
so shall i 

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

Monday, September 2, 2019

treasure chest

each day i journey
to the far ends of the Earth
reclaiming pieces of my heart
fractured and broken off

they are scattered among ruins
of temples long-deserted
hidden deep in forests between
seeds of lilies yet to bloom

woe are my feet
from hiking through islands
ravaged by storms
yet there is nothing i won’t do
to become
the person i was when birthed

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

alone i sit
on the surface of the moon
watching my former home spin and spin
as clouds dance across
endless blue

i remember
spending years in a daze
not caring
if i lived or died

but now that i am here
in the audience of stars
i would give anything to run
my hands over spring trees and breathe
in their sweet air
until my lungs said no more
no more

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

Sunday, September 1, 2019

give yourself this

it’s okay
to not be okay
nothing about being human
is ever easy
so you owe it to yourself 
to lay down your armor and weep
and no one needs to know
why
those tears were shed

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

if energy can neither
be created
nor destroyed
what if we
are all sparks
left over from the moment
God said
let there be light

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