update 01/04

Happy New Year, folks! I have an important announcement about my weekly poems.

Moving into the new year, my poem postings will be on hiatus for an indefinite amount of time. This is because I am going to be devoting more time this year submitting my work to literary magazines and journals, who more than often want to read work that has never before been published publicly anywhere. It is very rare that I find a journal or magazine that will take work previously posted online. Since it takes quite a bit of time for me to compose and fine-tune my poetry as it is, I will not be able to keep up with weekly poems at this rate. Not to mention, there are several changes and new responsibilities I must undertake in my personal life too, so this will limit my time for poetry even further.

Do not fret! This is not the last you will see of me. I will continue to keep you all updated to any events and news related to my poetry in the meantime, though be prepared to hear more scarcely from me. You can also subscribe by email for notifications or stay in touch with me on twitter.

If you get lonely, check out my full poetry index to reread your favorites, or peek over at who I’m following for more incredible poetry! Happy reading, and stay inspired! It’s a brave new decade!

New Adult Dream

And they said the children were the future
Jesus already saw the world in pieces and sighed
Having to mend the mistakes of His line
Carry that weight on His shoulders until death
So He slept through the storms ahead
Kept waking up, even after He died
Because there’s always something to fix

It’s always on us, the young
Grown up to be tired
Seeking survival
Forced to pull ourselves from the deep
To simply exist in peace
Just to have some place to live
Perhaps a decent buddy for sleep
A minute to make what we eat
An hour to watch or play or read
Or rest before our shifts
Before our draining studies
Before we rush to the polls
Before we sign the petitions
Before we honor the labor strikes
Before we put in the work
Only to be treated as lazy
Woken too early each time
Before our yokes fall on our shoulders
Before wailing and death
But, hey, Dad scoffed, “you’ll be fine”

Oh, dear siblings of this generation
Weaned on the mistakes of our line
When you look at the sky
Do the clouds feel heavy
Under the weight of your dreams?
Do you drink, breathe in deep,
When they seem out of reach?

If the children were the future,
What’s our new adult dream?
Well, stop asking
Give us some space
To rest and to breathe
To believe that a slaughtered soul
Can still rise and succeed

Famous Dead Name

As a young child, my eyes grew sore
Studying towers of important corpses
Until I was dozing off at my desk
Dreaming up other universes
To scribble out and send into the world
Enough to make my own name known
Make my own name known

But
What I wished was not to curse
Those kids in class for years to come
To cram inside their craniums
Yet another
Famous dead name
So I declared to me, quite quietly
I want to write, I want to sleep,
To get read and be forgotten in peace

But that’s the thing, you see
When a poet rhymes, they speak
And when they speak, they’re known
And if they’re known enough
They are remembered
In print
Important

And eyes will train on them, be strained by them
Some will relate or hate that they exist
And pray that they soon shut
The ever-loving hell
Up

And God
Knows
How I want a quiet life
But when these weary eyes
Watch how the world tramples
Over those who just want to eat or breathe or pee
Or want a second more to sleep in peace on the grass
Well, then—

Somebodies stepped on my foot, so
Don’t ask me why I’m shouting

Life Cycles

First Snow

Fear not, you cold of heart
Or you stung by flames of counterparts
For at the darkest hour of the night
Heaven shall cry by your bedside
Blanket the earth with her frozen tears
Tuck you in and soothe away your fears
Lips whistling a lonely lovely lullaby
 
Cold of heart, do not be afraid to cry
With winter, you are in good company

Fifth and Final Moon

Watch the sky for an extra pearl
And remember the peace of the quiet
What it was like with a warm body by your side
How the wind howled outside
How it cried when our eyes were closed
Cold and ivory like snow
 
If you must watch my mouth
For an extra word, be warned
And remember the peace of the quiet
Learn from flawed imperfect lips
Of gentle mist that rises and obscures what burns
Please learn true love won’t mean to
But sometimes it will hurt
 
My sweet insomniac, we are all beasts
Take what you need and release it
And if you cannot fall asleep at night
Know I am restless too
Stomach turning like the sea
As lions roar ashore, teeth bleeding
Don’t look now upon my spear
Spare you the details, but you can’t stay here
 
Chin up, sweet shivering refugee
To the fifth and final moon
Remember to bandage your wounds
Remember the peace of the quiet
Close your eyes, pretend for now
It’s coming soon…
 
 

When I Find You

When I find you
I will carry light inside my ribcage
And let you hold it in your hands
Until it warms you from the outside in
 
When I find you
I will bless the glass between us with my breath
As I call your name like a serenade, knocking
To the rhythm of my heartbeat at the sight of you
 
When I find you
I will look into your eyes in adoration
Grateful to see you at long last
At the end of a long search, I’ve reached you
 
When I find you, I will love you with my all
I will love all of you, because you are worth the world and a half
 

When You Find Me

When you find me
You will reach into my ribcage
Like your fingers are grasping
For the last marble at the bottom of the jar
 
When you find me
Locked away deep behind a window
I won’t hear you knocking
Though I’ll look up to see you
 
When you find me
There will be no light in my eyes
Bottomless irises swallowing up only darkness
Like icy black holes
 
When you find nothing there, please love it
Love what is left of me, please

World, Shifting

We swallowed pearls
And got sore throats
Instead of speaking, we sang
And we danced around notes
We composed a dead language
Then forgot what we wrote
Instead of building, we wrecked
To repair what we broke
 
Now we must learn different blueprints
To repair what we broke

Candy Cigarettes

Melt a candy cigarette
And spare the lungs that brace your heart
 
Enjoy pleasure by proxy
To break, to breathe, to fall apart
 
To take no shame in cravings
That your terrain has shaped for you
 
Lean into the discomfort
If it’s comforting to you
 
Don’t let them tell you imitations
Are a form of glorification
 
We know that healing doesn’t happen
It’s more that habits get unlearned

So what? The world has been unkind
That doesn’t mean we have to burn
 
So enjoy pleasure by proxy
To break, to breathe, to fall apart
 
Melt a candy cigarette
And save the lungs that brace your heart