Planet Earth

Take a seat

Not on the sidewalk

You’re a lady and
I won’t even

Touch that

And they won’t touch

Me or the concrete

Benches where we watch

Its dark here

Peace and water moving

Rest under this darkness as

Often as I

Do, don’t

Close your fists

Open your fingers

I want to touch them to

The insides of my wrists

If your hands were a color

Other than you, I’d

Ask God to make you white
Blue, like the ocean

To show me

There’s infinity growing

I need to crash into

Tides pull me under

Sheets, I only think

Keep breathing,

Kami, keep

Breathing in your

Corner is unfolding me

Like the love note

I’m too shy to write

Inconvenient Stores

The sun rose clear

The sky was a million

Golden waffles

Waiting for us

To close our mouths and
Eat up the dawn

Your anchors

Had unhinged a few months ago

I kept turning my eyes

Batting my mind

Lashing to what I knew

And never looking to see what was true

That you were falling

Sinking

Floating

Out of my orbit

It wasn’t something you wanted

But sometimes our joints get rusty

Is there a word for the color

Of the atmosphere

When the day is ending and the

Sun is closing us
Down, like each face is

A convenient corner store

Full of goodies for our neighbors?

You ran away tonight dear.

That’s why I always keep a

Rainjacket folded in my back pocket.

For the nights when the atmosphere doesn’t

Close us and we have

To shut things down with

Zippers and
blinds

And if you need more room

Just say so

I’ll pile my couches in the back alley

And give you a seat

 If you need to stay unhinged

Drifting for awhile

I promise to keep steering toward you

Following your wake

Waiting to eat breakfast at your table

To kiss you with my ears closed

And my mind so open.

The neighbors will peak through our

Shop windows

But when you need me to

I’ll remember we have curtains

And you're not a secret
But I'm pretty sure I want to keep you.

catch

she held her

Life in her hands, as

if it were ashes

from letters

long burnt

down to

nothing

her porcelain fingers

click together

shaking wide

spread to catch

everything

crumbling

through the confessional window

I look into

her gloom

molded wallpaper room

Where did he go?

the only indulgence
I give

Can you help me?

she cries.

I think something broke. 

Love Note to the Moon

Dear Mister,

The river is high.

I heard you had something to do

With pushing it

Toward my toes

Hydrating tickles

Octopuses swim on my ceiling

Faint glowing yellow from

Your skin

Freckled

With the valleys

God forgot about

When he sneezed

My nose itches

You smell like Halloween

For you I

Want to be a fairy

A fairy princess octopus

Light bulb

I’ll break if

You turn off

On the nights
You hide

I won’t mind your

Loyalty to the

Other girls with

Big smiles

I’ll tickle my own

Scratch my

Nose if you’re gone

But don’t let the river down
I need it to tuck me in.

11 Ways of a Beard

1

America would be in

A better spot

If our presidents followed

Abe Lincoln’s example of

Facial hair

2

It peeked from

The resonate box

Saying goodnight

And asking

Me to stay

3

A face sized quilt

Curling

Warming your wisdom

And definition

4

He brought us presents

I learned to

Annually look for

Someone surprising

Around midnight

5

I like your beard

Exponentially

More than Ke$ha does.

6

By waiting a few months

You’ll magically have the ability to

Cut down trees

By waiting a few years

You’ll have the ability to

Do magic

7

Between trees

I saw him

Knowing I should

But resisting

To run

8

I’ve listened to

Enough indie folk-rock

To know the

Sacred truth:

I will help you sing

9

I feel a small scratch

Where your face

Touched mine

Last night

10

Distinguished air

Without

Breaking anything

Shavings whisper

11

She wore pearls

He wore flannels

They liked it

That way

They Only Called Me "Bum" Once

From now on, you are only to give me blades of grass;

I don’t want any more of your rust

And lies about left-overs you think I’m worth

I’ve not always been here

I know what your shoes feel like

How full they are

How perfect their manufactured comfort

Ripped to shreds when

You threw the blades at me

In sharp succession the other night

And I pointed out

You were irrevocably making me die

My medicine costs less than your cigarettes

Yet you still inhale to

The demise of both you and I

Keep adding to your shrapnel sculptures

My mother told me

I’m supposed to keep tearing off parts of myself

Tearing off parts of myself jagged

Tearing off parts of myself rigged

Then I will be left a star

A supernova

And I will shine brighter

Than your knife tongues and laser eyes

I’m no preacher

But I refuse to close my mind

I once promised

If I figured out the truth

I would tell everyone

I don’t know if this will end

But I know my words
They’re to teach me

To remind me

I’m here

I’m here sleeping on the concrete

I’m here begging to keep breathing

I’m here coagulating your dust.

So if you could,

Please spare some green. 

Little Project

His paint was the sky

Coating the night black

I reach to understand the light coming from the open wounds on

His lips and the tip of each finger

The soft breeze moved the slim

Tree tops and brushed our faces

Horns from the busy intersection echoed off the walls

The wooden pipe left a sweet taste on my tongue,

While the smell of rich tobacco wafted up

The smoke curled in grey ribbons toward him

Then my ears were met with the lush warmth of his voice

Steven Michael was searching for sanity from the

Roof of the Northville Psychiatric Hospital,

Though his mind was saner than most

It searched and signaled through perfect sonnets

Not resting for much on nights when the monsters needed faces.

So choice was the sole expression I found to mumble

Knowing that because the red lights started flashing,

There was no need to worry about rain falling soon.

Come closer, girl in blue, come closer, he whispered.

The majestic spray-paint of justice glowed behind his silhouette

As the dirt struck us with its shimmering reflection,

The boy sincerely played the melody of a riot

With the monochromatic colors coming out of his mouth

Still, she will move closer and closer

Until his magnetism freezes her there

Nothing mattered to the vengeful kids

As they kicked glass off stories in silence

If he walks away, I’ll know the truth about

Running away from a house on fire

Viva la revolution screamed the stars

The monster’s red lips flashed off the dark painted brick,

Signaling our intentions to the waking black of night.


*This is the first of many poems that will be posted after I write them for my poetry class. It's a class that only meets once a week for this semester, but I'm pretty excited.