Coming Home

I've gone from grasping at intangibles
To forging my reality:
Melting down my unnecessary leftovers and outgrown bits
For recycling and reinvention
While passing bad twenties to buy some time.
Frankly
I am touched that you came
By fluke or design
To this point in time
To share your heart and space with me;
And though I have crafted sad shelters
Out of necessity and despair
Built fetid cocoons in the hopes of minty fresh recreation,
Only now can I
Raise my feet
Rest my head
And bask in home.

Recurring

Often in my dreams I am rolling to safety
Inches from impending wheels
Heart beating
Breath caught
Screaming not even a passing thought
I am rolling
To the curb
To the grassy dark ditch
Wherever
Away from on coming headlights
Always night
Usually raining
Or at the very least there are puddles
And damp cracks in the road
Too close to my face
As I roll out of the way just in time
And each time I am surprised
That I have made it
As the tires blow by my face
That I was not hit
Not killed
By the anonymous car that drives away without hesitation
While I lay roadside
Catching my breath and counting my blessings
Over
And over
Again

Message

Wrapped in ribbons of scented smoke
Doused in tea soaked steam
My mind slides to memories of you
With your wind whipped tresses dancing wild
Meadow grasses red and gold
Gowns flowing
Clinging
And you said
To live without fear
Because there will always be something to be afraid of
But living is a limited time offer
And from the endless depths of your eyes
From under your heavy lids
You told me that I had to laugh more
Especially when at wits end
To smile when it would be easier to cry
To sing before I scream
You brought the smells of wet earth and mating flowers along in your hair
To tell me that I had to live out loud
Or forgo my voice and just grin and nod along
And you left these fragrant memories
Like careful forest breadcrumbs
So that I may always find my way
Back to truth
Despite the distractions and misplaced destinies
Regardless of whatever fumes and fashions swirl around me momentarily
I carry your wisdom
And your smile
As my charms

Fallen

When stuck in the dirty asphalt grey of a nasty cloud
I understand that its inherent silver lining is nothing more than a distant and unlikely theory
But from all the times
You were able to see
The clouds of others from the outside
And tried to help them map their escapes
You must know there is sky
Beyond your sadness

Unread

There is an anonymous sense of comfort

In the fact that you have no interest in my tidbits

Rhyming or otherwise

In the knowledge that no matter whose blood is spilled here

You will neither be witness to the carnage

Nor wrongfully implicated in the crime.