multitudes

----

if we're going to turn a blind eye
on the world
let us turn our blindness
on all of it
let us flip the light off on
the graduating son in da 'Burb
as we did the
son shotgunned in da 'Bronx
let us blindfold
the sunrise
as we did the
gay man's cries
let us mute our tongues
to laughter
as we did
to slaughter
as we did
to Istanbul and Orlando
to San Bernardino
to Chattanooga
to Newtown and Aurora
and Blacksburg
and Columbine

if we wake up
to a world we'd rather not live in
let us either close the binds entirely
or walk into the dark
with the sun at our backs

----

miscommunication

----

what words does it take
to fake
a feeling --
is it the syllable
or rhyming
that makes
the reasoning?

so much understanding
just dying to be understood

----

a golden gate

just let the fog

roll over you

and knead you over

so certain it has a name

(remind yourself:

It. Has. A. Name.)

remind yourself

that with time

all things

are named

---

Creation

----

that's the rub of it,
isn't it?
you think things into being
that never think of you

----

give thanks, and, remember

----

and as i leave my resting place
and watch the sun reflecting,
sky connecting dots, and
morning murmurs, and
the coffee black, so
hot i watch it rise
an offering of
wisps

i wish there were ways to remember this
where such instagram filters don't exist

----

To love a hummingbird

----

to love a hummingbird
is to love constant motion
the thrum of held suspension
the imperfect incessant
all dripping wings
of want

to love a hummingbird
is to love the come and go
compelled by sweet nectar
the pendulum of desire and
the thrill of floating
the hibernation that must follow
such exhaustive metabolism
to love a hummingbird
is to learn to love the moment
long after it's gone

and faced with your own insecurities
it will feel like you can love a hummingbird
in the palm of your hand; resist that urge,
and know, hummingbirds are never yours
but their own, and the world's

because to love a hummingbird
is to love fleetingly

----

Syntax

----

at first, i thought i could be the space
to fill with    "whatever"    you thought
and then be easily replaced, once
you found the word that you want

then, i thought i could be the comma,
the "to be continued," the note before
the crescendo,  the beginning,
but never, the end

later, i thought i could be the exclamation point
straight, unwavering -- full of emphasis!
to give you the closure you craved
at the end of all your unfinished sentences

for a time, i even thought that i could be the period.

(and here, the parenthesis: I need you to know
that i never wanted to be the solution)

now, i know i was the question mark
bent and unasked, late at night and
wrapped around you

still seeking answers of my own

----