Tuesday, June 30, 2020

I am

both shades
of midnight

when you
slip into
my mind

*

tell me again

that she wasn’t
as good as me

when you
explored her skin
instead of mine

*

the things
left unsaid
burn in my chest

look at me

a black hole
playing human

*Published in and still (the cherita book 37)
*tell me again and the things left unsaid were designated as a cherita lighthouse (editor’s choice) 

Sunday, June 28, 2020

summer
my mind is still
winter

*Published in the June 2020 issue of Stardust Haiku

Monday, June 22, 2020

making a joke of me one pine needle

*Published in the June 2020 edition of is/let

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Absolute Zero

dad’s greatest hit
a kick
between mother’s legs

children services
we memorize
our lines

5th Commandment
another beating
justified

family photo
I learn
to grind my teeth

gaslight
suffocation
is play

slow death
he demands
to share my bed

absolute zero
our roles shift
to predator-prey

no exit
he name drops
a hitman

*Published in Issue #24 of Prune Juice (under the pseudonym, Coda)

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Join Me

I am nowhere near an ocean,
but I can imagine it so clearly:
the waves gently crashing
against the shore;
the sand nestled between each toe,
warming, easing
the aches I’ve accumulated
from daily stress and woe;
and the sound,
oh God yes,
the call of seagulls as they glide
effortlessly through the air.

I am far away from this,
I know,
but in my heart I am there,
with the sand, waves, and birds;
and for once,
the anxiety that so often
holds my body and mind hostage
cannot reach me,
cannot bind and torment me
while I am in the midst
of this momentary illusion.

*Published by the Tipp City Area Arts Council on 6/15/20

Monday, June 15, 2020

finally comfy
in my skin
magenta twilight

*Published via the Poetry Pea podcast (Series 3, Episode 12: Aging)

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

a woodpecker
pecking pecking
each day
is a constant battle
to stay sober

*Published in Issue #22 of Moonbathing

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

tonight’s wind

you roar
and then you whisper

thank you

for trusting me
with your thoughts

*

tidal

just once
i want to know
what the moon has to say
about us

*

roses are rebels

they face each storm
head on

and yet
they always return

perhaps this is why
they so often

carry thorns

*

ephemeral

sometimes
music makes me
forget
i am mortal

*

in awe

while i know
the science behind
the twinkling of stars

just for this moment

i will feign ignorance
simply to enjoy
their silent hymn

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #19

Monday, June 8, 2020

impermanence

but the night
wasn’t always

and neither
was the rain

*

everyday sacred

as i approach
the sun-soaked forest

i stop and inhale

this, too
is hallowed ground

*

on butterflies (and humans)

you are
a painting in motion

never let
the world tell you otherwise

*

better days ahead

the hungry way
daffodils reach
for the sun

my joy
hinges on recounting
such lovely things

*

astray

tossing and turning
in this bed hewn
from jagged stone

i am
so lost
without your light

*Published in Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems #19

Saturday, June 6, 2020

metamorphosis

i chose to hide
hiding until not even
the moon and constellations
could find me now

see, this is the quandary
of innocence

your crime becomes my skin
becomes my marrow
where your violence went is
a roadmap of never will

i may have chosen
the dusty attic and cobwebs
with a bed tightly smashed against
the broken wall, but i never

chose such marred sheets

in dreams
i still have fingers replaced by tentacles
and the quiet streets are the ones
i most fear

*Published in Black Flowers Literary Journal, Volume Five

Friday, June 5, 2020

perhaps
we have misread
the moon

*

now that
we have become

spiders burning
under glass

*

Jupiter
I am the one
called ant

*Published by Heliosparrow on 6/5/20

Thursday, June 4, 2020

the ends justify the means (or some shit like that)

i didn’t learn much
from my 8 a.m. economics class
during my sophomore year of college
partly because of the tortuous
time of day, but mostly
because i dropped it

however, i have since developed
a working knowledge of this subject
courtesy of #45, who when faced
with America’s impending economic doom
suggested that the sick, quite literally
inject themselves with Clorox

*Published in The Alien Buddha Destroys the Economy by Alien Buddha Press