Withering Away

Flowers fill the singular sunny building
Sun filters through the green stained glass
Dancing across the plants leaves
Red roses dart across the path
Lining the way to the secret garden
Ivy grows along the South side of the greenhouse
Touching the sky
Clouds sweep across the sky dancing with the sun
Leaves dance in the distance spilling their secrets

Flowers are sparse in the lonely building
Clouds block the sun from the green stained glass
The plants leaves twist and grow trying to remember the moves
Half dead red roses ruggedly line the path
Halfway leading the way to the unkempt garden
Straggled ivy climbs the South side
Reaching for the cloudy sky
Clouds dart the sky dimming the sun
Leaves fall in the distance whispering their secrets

Dead flowers litter the abandoned building
The green stained glass hasn’t met with the sun in years
The plants leaves wilt laying motionless with no rhythm
Thorny stems hazardardly line the path
Showing the way to the condemned garden
The Ivy drapes its limbs over the southside of the building
Begging to to touch the sky
Clouds fill the sky blocking the sun
Leaves lay on the ground silent

The once bright greenhouse that once nourished my childhood memories now lays to waste rotting in the distance. We have both withered.

Loneliness

Dropped off and walking on
Stepping into a home where everyone is gone
Say hello to the dogs, then head upstairs
Take a nap or contemplate doing something worthwhile
Lay there in silence waiting for another to come in
Talk to yourself to fill the void of emptiness
Dance and sing a little in order to stay positive
Stop what you’re doing because your embarrassed
Standing alone wondering what’s the next move
Head downstairs to get some food
But not too much since you look like a balloon
Eating less to make yourself look thinner
Sadness and cravings give in and you eat like no other
Feeling ashamed back upstairs you go
It’s getting late so it’s time to clean off
Spend an hour or two trying to wash the negativity away
Nothing changes and you feel the same way
Now you lie there again, longing for the company of another person
Darkness and quiet are the only things by your side
Sadness overcomes and a stream of water comes down
Drifting away things disappear
The feeling of falling down kicks in
Endlessly falling waiting to land
But all that’s waiting is nothing
And all that’s left is the loneliness
Ready to consume you

If Only

If only she didn’t stop
Didn’t stop expressing her love for the little creatures of the earth
Didn’t stop telling me to mind the snails slipping across the concrete of our doorstep.

If only she still told me
Still told me that I’m lucky whenever she saw a ladybug among the dew drops on the grass
Still told me when there was a butterfly fluttering behind us when walking in the park.

If only she brought me flowers again
Brought me dahlias on anniversaries, always freshly picked from her secret garden
Brought me marigolds whenever she could sense the apathy laced in my words.

If only she kept dreaming
Kept dreaming of what it must be like to walk among blades of grass towering like a forest
Kept dreaming of visiting the annual poppy festival to see sprawling California fields filled with blooms anew.

If only she continued
Continued to stare at me as if there were shooting stars gliding through my eyes
Continued to wish to be reincarnated as an orchid mantis; a combination of her two favorite things.

If only she wanted to
Wanted to not stop
Wanted to tell me
Wanted to bring me flowers
Wanted to keep dreaming
Wanted to continue.

If only she didn’t leave.
If only she didn’t go without me.
If only she didn’t go see the poppies
With someone else.

Pledge

I pledge allegiance
to the flag
of the United States of America.
I stood with my hand over my heart
at the ripe age of 10
in the bright, off-white,
crowded classroom.
chants are heard
all across the room;
echoey and loud.
We were all unaware and gullible.
We sang it up and down.
Never understood
what we were pledging ourselves to
every day.

And to the republic for which it stands
I held your hands my entire life
as you lied.
Made me feel safe.
Made me feel as though
I mattered.
They mattered.
But I should’ve known
it was all fake
Did you?

One nation
under god
cause there’s only one.
The others are odd
and they don’t belong
We preach individualism
but they sing a different song.
They are a prism
and we are a prison
that is painted as a utopia
But do you really believe that?

Indivisible with liberty.
To a point.
The line to that point
is a bit short.
Money is everything under our system.
Money unifies our system,
just as much as it divides our system.
Money is everything.
A black woman
single with kids
that never see her,
hiding her generational trauma
cause she has to be strong,
show them how
to stay alive.
Working 3 jobs
isn’t hard working.
That’s why she’s still poor and struggling
No other reason
right?

And justice for all.
Except those who are the perfect victims
for the “justice” of the justice system.
Except for those who are
foreign and poor
Their home holds the resources,
I need to hold
more wealth.
Hand it over,
I’ll ravage you either way
with my blind followers
and my own selfish wants
It’s mine.
This is justice right?

The land for the wealthy,
and the home of hypocrisy.
One corporation under god.
This is my country.
Aren’t you proud?

The One Lurking In The Dark

It sat there in the dark
Lurking as if it was waiting to strike
Or could it be nothing
Just the imagination
But what if it’s a ghost
Or a person
Or a chair
Or a coat
The thoughts running through my head
Lead my curiosity up ahead
I can feel its presence as I reach for the light
Anticipating the worst I switch on the lights
To reveal a coat on a chair and nothing more
A let out a sigh of relief and turn the lights off
As my back turns on the chair 2 eyes and a smile appear.

Time of Youth (Based off Sappho’s Poetry Fragments)

You will think of a haze of color and light when you think of me,
remember the shifting of a kaleidoscope when you fall asleep.
Under your eyelids past tears and nightmares, there is something that unceasingly glows—
a memory in your eyes that the soul softly holds.
And so you sleep, and so you dream.
And so you hope to spread your dust ridden wings.

We did these things in our youth,
we spread our wings and we lied to the truth.
We found darkness, we sought light,
we seeked many and beautiful things.

In the city
where the graves of beautiful days are marked by dappled sunsets cast over skylines,
for us the harsh night never rests.
The cold air of midnight sets snowflakes into our lungs,
it is because of this that we will become.

We live in a trance; for the sunrise we’re seeking.
With glass in our eyes, this midnight, we’re dreaming.
Opposite to us, the stars belong to the night.
They long for the darkness, so they can paint the sky.

A daring thought might say to let the stars burn your eyes,
a nightmaring person might desperately collect fireflies.
But the time of shooting stars still has yet to begin, we’ll be graceful in our descent while we let our minds spin.

The stone foundation of a darkened sky,
paired with the thin-voiced singing of the deep twilight.
Observing this is human, our existence is divine.

And when the sun comes back around,
and when the stars lose their glow and fall down…
I hope the kaleidoscope falls apart.
I hope that the sunlight fills your youthful heart.

Pond Politics

Croaking and quacking,
It’s quite a peaceful place to be
Just the wilderness around.

The frogs hopping around the water’s edge
With the sun shimmering off of the algae

However, through the croaks and quacks,
You could hear two quiet voices
Seeming to be arguing with one another.

Glancing over towards the bushes,
There’s a small toad
And a little duck
Having a waterside argument.

Over what though?
Unknown, but it seemed it was just their
Typical pond politics.

The Land of Enchanment

History hurts. They told us back in the day don’t study history whatever you do. You’ll see a life misshapen, possibly murmured in a vast derangement of your own. You might see a doomed love or a cruel man. You might see a coward. You might see a life-gnawed man, like the one in my sewn-shut dreams. But you also might see the ones with pueblo skin on turquoise trails, sleeping in the bruise-dark dirt. We go to that place sometimes, Los Cerrillos. That’s where he was from. It goes like this: lightning, in the wailing stretch of night, bright white. Starved wide, history hurting to the bone.

Where Did I Go Wrong?

I always said I was busy
I never knew how much it would hurt me
To not have you around
I never thought we’d have to say goodbye
Where did I go wrong?

I always meant to call
But you know I get distracted easily
I never thought you’d leave me
Because we had security
Where did I go wrong?

But you left me when I was busy
Distracted so easily
How did I miss all the signs?
Where did I go wrong?

I was broken the day you left me
When no one even told me
The state that you were in
Where did I go wrong?

Now you visit me in my dreams
But what does this mean?
I can’t tell if it’s good or bad
I see us laughing and having fun
Before your actions were done
And then you disappear from me once more
Where did I go wrong?

I wonder constantly if you ever think of me
And how I used to be
So carelessly free
Instead of how broken I am now
Because I do
Now I watch what I do
And where I go
In fear of finding you
Because I can’t bear to watch you leave again
Where did I go wrong?

I think I’ll go insane
If I think about you once more today
I don’t know how to be alone
With no one to comfort me
How do I move on?
Where did I go wrong?

Who am I without you by my side?
Is there a reason to move on
Now that you’re gone?
Trying to live my life
But constantly searching for signs
That you’re still paying attention to me
Where did I go wrong?

I need to move on
I can’t stay in denial
It’s time for acceptance
And if I see you again
I won’t let past memories haunt me
And scare me away
I can’t keep blaming myself
It’s not my fault

Quien Soy Yo

De Canada soy yo,
De Los Estados Unidos soy yo,
Pero, el Español yo hablo,
También, el ingles hablo yo,
La vida es sueño,
Por eso, a países diferentes viajo,
Me encanta la aventura,
Entonces, vida es la aventura,
Yo hago la Aventura,
En el mismo, la vida es mía,
Siempre amigos buenos busco,
Porque, con frecuencia, mucha gente ya me encantó,
Disfrutar la vida no es secreto,
Nadie necesita bolleto,
Yo tengo el secreto,
No le voy a mentir Yo,
A otros conozca,
Y de otros aprenda,
De nueva gente, le encantará,
De todos, mucho aprenderá,
Creáme, todo lo que digo,
Es verdad, Yo prometo.