by

Chasing Friendship

“You feel sick” he asks me

And I do

only ice cream and water seem safe to me

but I tell him I’ll be fine

to go bring the chicken and sides

i make a note to pay him back

such a sweet man

I’ve missed him

wish I felt better and could talk more

He heads out with the others

they promise they’ll return with food

I wait at home

listen to cheerful music as it passes my window

When they return he isn’t with them

“He ran to chase the ice cream truck”

they tell me

and smile like he’s silly

And I cry because I know

He doesn’t eat ice cream.

by

The People Like Me

You were older and thinner and wiser than me 

You sang without instrument or friend 

You spoke frankly and excitedly, and 

You listened before speaking again 

You wore laughable names 

You did laughable things, but  

You were so serious, too 

You said “We have always walked among 

You” and I knew I’d walk with 

You again 

You had a round face 

Your freckles stood out on 

Your sweet rosy cheeks 

You had uneven teeth in 

Your sweetly bowed smile, and 

You cried when said I would always love 

You 

You were fourteen and  

You thought  

Your parents’ god hated 

You 

You struck me when I first laid eyes on 

You 

Your voice mesmerizing and sweet 

You sang along when I was singing to 

You 

You told stories to children and me 

You called me to your side and 

You showed me a chain 

You had made for the people like me 

You held out your hand and 

You said “I’m like you” 

You don’t know what those words meant to me 

I walk among all these people like 

Me 

I hear their voices and stories 

I catch my breath feeling like  

I’m not alone and 

I smile when they call me by name 

I say  

“I’m like you” and 

I call them by name 

I sit, stand, walk, smile, cry, hurt, love beside them 

I am happier knowing they’re happy like  

Me and 

I promise myself to live truly 

I feel less alone as they walk next to 

Me and  

I love them 

I love the people like  

Me 

by

Ocean Eyes

He smiles at me, the sailor I once knew

His oceanic eyes alight

“There’s a familiar face!” he cries

And points his hand to me

And soon we’re talking easily

Our conversation churning, swirling

Pulling me in deep, deep, deep


He smiles at me, the sailor I once knew

A professor, now, he tells me

Proud of his accomplishments 

He has always seemed wise to me

Pirate or professor makes no difference

But he smiles, he smiles,

His oceanic eyes alight

He smiles at me, the sailor I once knew

His bright teeth, and his uneven smile

The corners of his eyes are creased

Crinkled like the ripple of waves

And in the ocean colors

Blue and green and brown and grey

I see the light that shines across the sea

The brightness and the glitter

Reflected back from those dark eyes


He smiles at me, the sailor I once knew

His speaking and his listening ebb and flow

In turn we tell our stories

Back and forth, back and forth

He tells not of adventures out at sea

But of adventures in a library

Of men he’s met only through their words 

Who died and left only their books behind

Wave after wave, thought after thought

And I learn, and I listen, and I watch

He smiles at me, the sailor I once knew

And his ocean eyes alight

He takes me sailing in the sky

And uses words, and thoughts, and memories

So those men never die

And like a child loves the sea

I love those oceanic eyes

by

My Hidden Creed

My words are repeating – a chant a prayer rises to the surface – hidden words form
Yet I can’t make them coalesce, cant make them ring like the sound in my skin

How can I bring this fire to the surface of the water? Make the. sounds ring out like
In my dreams, and the beating of my heart, and the pulsing in my head?
Doesn’t it seem to be more than coincidence? Doesn’t it seem to live under my skin?
Don’t these vowels and consonants, these silent letters, seem to form words?
Each of us seem to have these words, these pictures, these melodies, which we are
Not able to free, not able to voice, but they burn our skin and urge us on: “try again”

Can they rise to the surface through purification, repetition, distillation?
Refining them like gold: burning over, and over, and over again? And
Each time they’re brighter, they’re stronger, they’re more clear
Every poem and song, every square of cloth, every sermon and painting
Digs deeper delivering those burning words out of skin and water and into the light

by

In Your Eyes

When I look in your eyes, I cannot fathom what I see
How you look back at me with whole-hearted want
Even when I am annoying, or broken, or distracted 
Never once have I seen your eyes without that shine


Your face is transformed when you lay eyes
On me: a certainty, a hopeful hopelessness burns 
Under the surface, hypnotizing me


Like sunlight piercing darkness it
Opens in the dark depths 
Of your ebony eyes, the sunbeams
Kissing the glassy surface


I cannot grow tired of the sight of you
Never have I, never will I


My heart pounds in my chest and I
Yearn to reach out and touch that light


Each time I murmur how lovely it is
You respond that I look the same way
Endlessly adoring, and lost, and gone on you
Still all that I did was to look in your eyes…

by

Sunflower Thoughts – 01

It’s true I couldn’t always follow you.

I didn’t always stand next to you, or speak to you,

as you traveled a path so far out of my reach.

Rather, like a young sunflower on a cloudy day,

I turned my face to where I knew you would be,

so that if for a moment the clouds parted,

I would be sure to catch the light that you gave.