Afterthoughts
I settled for
so afterthoughts 
I chased

Afterthoughts
I could only offer
so afterthoughts 
I became

After thinking
for way too long 
I finally moved
into the now

“No more 
afterthoughts,”
I thought, “new
pathways I’ll create.”

(Excerpt from “March On” written in May 2019)

bright eyed
and shimmery
as are those 
who are twenty

but the world
molds monsters
at that age through
minuscule details

and who were we 
but half formed 
children singing 
summer songs 

bearing wounds
but still whole
enough to know
our inner cores

right until the 
the storms of life
rained decent
amounts of mistakes

without guidance
we were left alone 
holding hands 
in a dark forest 

how was it that
I was old enough
but not wise enough 
to heed the signs

misunderstanding 
that the words
were masks to a
specific chaos inside 

tricky yes but not
yet dangerous for 
we youths are only
epitomized promises 

but still I, a child,
started drowning 
from the threats 
I couldn’t perceive 

I did not notice 
your breadcrumbs 
substituting roses
were quiet pleas 

what if then 
I was older
I would have 
done something

because the  
trees were falling 
but it felt as though
only I could hear

(Excerpt from “March On” written in May 2019)

runaway kite
where now 
do you go

mountain homes
hug clouds
but restrain

forest jails
fish birds
but nurture

meadow stations
speak clarity,
come home

(Excerpt from “March On” written on 6/7/19)

when I think of words,
I think of chains 

even sentences
formed from measly 
small talk can
push indefinite weight 
upon the soul 

the words within
throwaway comments
can link up into a 
daisy-chain of 
steeled emotions 

when I feel the words
from others that
threaten to 
weigh me down

I want to grapple
their phonetic discord
and break it apart
with either my pen 
or with my silence

(Excerpt from “March On” 3/30/19)

breath me
I breath you
speak me
I speak you

sparkling eyes
I shine with you
irises I will lay 
in passing for you

above treelines
I convene
with sight

you envision
covenants 
through oceans

suturing
the night
as you go

the white
I kindle
moves to you

traverse
shall we
in flight

blossom
we shall
always

one silence
in years
one word
to share

see me
I see you
believe me
I believe you

(Excerpt from “March On” written 6/5/19)

meet me somewhere
where the sunsets freeze
and forever we bathe
in summer breeze

meet me when
regret grows stale 
and the skies prepare
an expository exhale

meet me within
the horizon’s wink
and time desists
mental overthink

meet me with
nakedness inside
and I will love you
with nothing to hide

(Excerpt form “‘March on” Written 6/9/19)