East or West, I’ll Love You Best

Who do you write to, 

in the cold and lonely dark? 

Who gets your words, love? 

Thank You Haiku

I am so thankful-

after all these years and miles-

you and I are we. 

Look Ma, Both Hands!

So hold me tightly,

squeeze until I’m breathless, Love.

Some loves need both hands. 

Dilemma

I can go twenty-two minutes 

without you, 

and baby, it seems you’d agree. 

I know you need me, I hear 

your sweet voice-

it’s constantly calling to me. 

I can get done so much more 

when you’re absent, 

in your presence efficiency drops. 

I know the day is approaching, 

it’s coming, 

your need for me someday will stop. 

I dread the silence that waits 

in the distance-

the loneliness feels like a knife.

I know I’m doomed to spend 

my old age waiting 

for the voice that gave purpose to life.

Closet Graffiti

I write your name 

in each closet I hide in, 

I’ve spent my life hiding, 

it seems. 

Sometimes i’ll scribble 

a message beneath it, 

the date or a quote or 

my dreams. 

White walls are canvases 

begging for color, 

a marker makes quick, 

even strokes. 

I leave your mark 

on all I encounter, 

it’s better than matches 

and smoke. 

Someone will find it

eventually darling, and 

wonder who once 

uncapped pen.

They might paint over 

this monument to you, 

I’ll have to start 

hiding again. 

Who Needs a White Knight When You’re the Dragon?

So I will set fire 

to the castle, 

and paint 

the parapets 

in flame. 

Moats will dry 

to dust 

in the inferno, 

and the knight, 

once white, 

will be black 

with soot. 

I will reclaim 

the treasures 

that were stolen 

from me, 

with brimstone 

in my voice 

and scales- 

once more- 

across my chest. 

The day of revival 

and reckoning 

has come. 

In a Cage Fight, I’d Win.

You are

my favorite song on repeat,

the canvas I’m learning to paint, 

rose petals pressed between 

the pages of my favorite book.

I am

a Burger King jingle,

the crayon scribble on a receipt,

dandelion weeds withered against 

a badly rusted fence. 

The Truthful One

I’ve never uttered an ill word about you- 

I couldn’t, and, trust me, I’ve tried. 

Somehow intentions are judged to be false though, 

but which one of us has last cried? 

I’ve never pointed out flaws in your logic, 

and darling, those holes could sink ships. 

I’ve only stood here and doggedly loved you 

and prayed for the truth on your lips. 

Best Haiku Ever

The pirate was right-

death cannot stop true love, and

mostly dead’s not dead.

You Can Be Right (Or You Can Be Happy)

Are nosebleeds quite common, so high on your pedestal, 

tell me- does vertigo call? 

How is the weather so high above towers, 

do clouds ever gather at all? 

Can you see clearly what happens beneath you, 

does distance lend vision a blur? 

Room for one only, you’re right but you’re lonely, 

the curse of the righteous and sure. 

Homeless

So far away now, 

and we keep getting farther:

When will we find home? 

It is What It is.

By now we should know: 

life isn’t- has never been-

will never be fair. 

Winter Warm’d

And the snowflakes stopped, 

frozen in their falling, 

and the trees bent 

to slip their secrets 

into our waiting, enveloped ears. 

And my nose was numb 

and my feet were frozen, 

but my hands—darling, 

my hands in yours, 

have never been so warm. 

On the Bright Side, Rage is Good for Productivity

Silently, I rage.

There is so much to say still, 

but you stole my tongue. 

It’s Hard to Drown in a Desert

Where is the rope, love? 

I’m drowning in the desert, 

where’s the promised light?

Vaguely Specific

I’m so specific, the details all matter, 

like serving it up on a bright silver platter.

I’m painted in adjectives, layered so deep, 

but it’s hard to keep dreaming when I never sleep. 

I’m so persistent, a dog with a bone, 

like the ringing won’t stop till you pick up the phone, 

I’ll keep coming back to this, call me the tide, 

retreat and return until I’m by your side. 

I’m so expectant, just pregnant with hope, 

begging for answers, a little more rope, 

a bell starts it’s ringing, my mouth overflows, 

the seed that you water’s the one that will grow. 

Gray (As You Like It)

All the world is gray 
and the men and women in it 
merely shadows.
They have their dusks 
and their sunrises, 
And one man in his time 
is many shades. 
All the world is gray, 
but you have always been
the most brilliant blue. 

Deserving

You deserve love, 

deserve someone to hold you, 

someone to call 

when you’re feeling alone. 

You deserve help,

deserve someone to shoulder

some part of your burden:

a hand and a home.

You deserve odes

deserve sonnets and love songs,

someone reminding you

how great you are:

you deserve love,

how I pray that you’ll find it-

if ever you need it, 

I won’t be too far. 

Today (is a Good Day)

Today 

is a good day 

to exhale joy- 

to see it hang, 

frozen 

on the breeze. 

Release 

the breath 

you no longer 

need to hold- 

withhold no good thing 

from yourself. 

Today 

is a good day 

to start again:

to wake up 

and be great, 

and be thankful, 

and be hopeful 

for the relentless 

beating of your heart 

and the endless 

tapping of your feet. 

Do not 

hold back, 

my darling: 

exhale and begin. 

Boo Haiku

The scariest part

of every Halloween is

you’re not here with me.