Who You Are

You are the paint freckling my face 
and the dirt congregating under my fingernails. 

You are my sleepless nights 

and my impatient days, 

and my guilt at my impatience. 

You are hours of the same words read 

and reread 

and eventually recited 

without the need for turned pages 

or focused eyes. 

You are the bread and fruit and cheese dinners, 

and the long, loud bath afterwards. 

You are research 

and phone calls 

and trips to the emergency room 

just in case, 

and you are also every song that I have sung 

and every poem that I have written 

and every picture you have made me color in blue. 

You are the swings at the park 

and the giraffe at the zoo 

and the obnoxiously attentive waitress at the museum. 

You are every other bite of my ice cream, 

and every single bubble that I blow. 

You are chalk dust 

and French braids 

and long skirts 

and laughter, 

and I love you. 

Stay Close

Stay close to me while I reach for you. 

I feel your absence like the earth misses the sun, 

and grows cold when she is distant, 

romancing other ground with her touch. 

Be kind to me when I am harsh to you. 

It is only because I trust you to love me still, 

to love me in my weakness and petty frustrations 

which sound so much 

like broken glass against the whole. 

Be silly with me when I am angry. 

You are the only one who can make me laugh 

so soon after weeping, 

and it is a heady thing, 

to be played so intimately by such strange fingers. 

Be patient with me when I am afraid of you. 

You are everything that I want, 

and I fear wanting anything this badly.

The Avalanche

I am perishing in overproduction, 
in an avalanche of words, 
in the madness of quantity. 
The same words keep coming back to me, 
like a wanderer 
who cannot tear his eyes away 
from the countryside or 
like a man 
who cannot take leave 
of life. 

Love Is

Love is a thing with two left feet.

We urge it to hurry, 

We chant the repeat.

Love is a thing with tires flat.

We push it forward

To where we've sat.

Love is a thing so fresh and new.

It warms our souls

And faces too. 

Love is a thing that's hard to hold:

It grows and stretches

Cools, grows old. 

Love is a thing that always stays,

Through every trial,

Now, always. 

Paraku #4

The state of hockey,

We will stand and defend and

We will not give up.

Remember Me

I will be forgotten-

all the world will one day 

sweep my shadow 

from the corners of their dusty memories,

wipe clean their surfaces of 

each and every fingerprint,

let fade 

the last ray of light 

I shone on their face, 

but please-

not you.

Don't let me be erased 

from the soft spot 

you had for me.

Keep me there always,

nestled in warm thoughts and

happy recollections.

Better that you remember me fondly 

than the rest of the world grieve.

Paraku #3

Up, up and away!

Thanks for the adventure, now

go find a new one.

Happy Birthday, Bard

We all want to be art:

we ache for immortality 

without a thought to the cost.

I don't care-

Let me be paint-splattered 

and I will stain you with my ink. 

Do not remind me that mortality 

was the paper on which 

Romeo's fame was written. 

We all want to be artists:

we reach for acclaim

without considering what we'll lose.

I don't care-

Let my face be plastered on every 

bulletin board and textbook.

Do not remind me that tomorrow

will forget my name. 

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Mirrors reflect what you show them, it's true, 

and my bathroom mirror, it only sees you.

Your wave in my hair, your blush on my cheek,

Your tongue shapes the words in my mouth when I speak.

The green in my eyes and the moles on my skin,

The eyebrows that broadcast the mood I am in.

Mirrors reflect what you show them, no more, 

So I guess your reflection is what fate has in store. 

Remember

Words still have meaning,

whatever we say

always lasts longer than 

just for the day.

Paraku #2

Best friends forever:

Infinity and beyond.

Falling with style.

Everything

My darling girl,
you are neither princess nor wicked witch.

You wear neither a tiara nor pointed hat- 

Your skin neither green nor perfect porcelain. 

They will tell you that you must conform- 

slip into glass or pointed footwear, 

grab onto a broomstick or the nearest prince. 

They will tell you that once you are no longer young 

you are old, 

as if spring turns immediately to winter 

and the dawn gives way to dusk.

The world will whisper in your ear, 

will want to label you, 

will want you to chose between 

smart and pretty, 

ambitious and kind, 

confident and humble.

Do not listen. 

Do not believe that you can only be one thing. 

You are both heroine and villain,

Both incredibly sweet and impossibly selfish,

Both smart and beautiful.

And 

what is more, 

you are everything in between. 

You, 

my darling girl, 

are everything. 

Paraku #1

"Life's not fair, Highness.

Anyone who says different

is selling something."

I Wanna Hold Your Hand*

I've got this old book with love on its pages

It beckons to me from its shelf. 

Tones that once echoed so loudly in reading:

Stories of dying to self.

I've got a pen that spills without permission,

My say is quiet and kept

Much like my chance of restraining this notion

I stand where devotion once stepped.

Truthfully, I've never moved from this spot

It's just that the scenery changed

I hope the world spins a little bit faster

So all this can be rearranged.

I hold a journey in one of my hands,

The other holds tight to this dream.

The reason my destiny's out of my reach

Is that your hand must be in-between.

Peace

Peace is this moment:

My heart beating next to yours.

Some things never change.

You Can't Handle the Beauty

When the heart speaks, 

the mind finds it indecent to object. 

She knew only too well 

that it was a beautiful lie. 

But who was she to argue 

with such beauty? 

Welcoming Spring

Sunshine on my face,

Dirt underneath fingernails,

Welcome Spring, at last.

Change

Please don't ever believe, 
not for one second, 
that people can't change. 
People change every day. 
They grow older, 
grow taller, 
grow wiser, 
grow kinder. 
People change 
every day.
So choose today 
what you will 
become.

Good Luck

I've been so lucky 

for most of my life,

Call it blessed, 

I guess that'd be true too.

I haven't found clovers 

or pennies 

or gold,

But my winding path 

brought me 

to you. 

X Marks the Spot

Somehow 
somebody forgot 
how 
to find me 
while I have 
perfected proficiency: 
hide me.

As You Wish Haiku

Love neverending:

Mere death cannot stop true love

Pirates, swamps nor kings.

The Decision

Wolves or lions, take your pick,

Scarlet letters, burning stick.

Water deep or tower high

Blackened earth or blackened sky.

Serpent tongue, viper's bite

Death at dawn or darkest night.

Choose a poison, drink it up

From the bottle, in your cup.

To the foils, fence, a duel-

It ends in death, the only rule.

Letters Home

Someday somebody will read what I've written,

until that day it seems I write just for me.

One day my voice will ring out to the people,

the Pied Piper's call and the ache to be free.

The words drum a beat that echoes my heart song,

The melody urges me on to the end,

I wouldn't protest the arduous journey

if only I had claim to someone, a friend. 

Temporal/Eternal

I will never 

stop striving 

for better. 

For what is 

a struggle 

if not the undying ideal 

held against a mirror, 

immortality 

juxtaposed against 

the weak 

and dying?

The eternal in us 

fights the lie 

that this is 

all we will ever 

be, 

and that 

our progress 

is only one more 

step 

toward 

oblivion. 

darkness there, and nothing more

The world is so dark

Silver linings painted black

When will this storm end?

Easter Haiku

Death is defeated,

The grave could not hold Him there.

He's risen indeed.

But Now I See

I once was blind, 

blind still I'd be,

had not your sacrifice 

saved me.

Though I was dead 

You gave new life,

traded joy 

for sin and strife.

My blackest sin

made pure as snow- 

A Friend to walk with 

'Ere I go. 

Death cannot win, 

its sting is gone,

You've given my heart

heaven's song. 

Hope

Undaunted, hope lives,

Refusing to concede yet.

This is not the end. 

To the Pain

A coward's way out-

When most you needed courage,

You laid down your sword.

Seventh Grade

In seventh grade 

I taught you that 

every hero must 

overcome an obstacle-

That a white knight needed 

a fierce dragon to slay 

before he was truly 

worthy of the title.

White hair,

White teeth,

White t-shirt

We read about Anne Frank 

and I told you 

to find beauty 

even in the darkest corners 

of your world. 

I was too afraid to tell you 

that life 

isn't a book project 

with a clever title.

Blue eyes,

Blue skies

Blue spirit 

You made me laugh, 

behind my hand, 

with my back to the class, 

so that they couldn't see 

how your subversion 

delighted me. 

In a class of clowns, 

you were their king.

Red cheeks,

Red hair,

Red-handed.

I can't help thinking 

that I failed you. 

I wasn't the teacher 

you needed: 

the introduction to heroes, 

and self-sacrifice 

never took root.

Or maybe 

you learned my lessons 

too well. 

For Paul

Too soon pruned from life's tall tree,

Too green to wither gray,

Too many laps to finish still, 

before you run away.

Too seaworthy to capsize now,

At virgin voyage's start.

Too full of life and love and cheer

To have a silent heart.