Storytelling

In my story
I'm not afraid

Every single day

Whether I have it all
or have nothing

I'm not afraid

Screen

I tore a hole
In the screen
Walked through
Jumped through
Touched you

Intermediate

I looked at your face
It's covered in mud
Filth
Where you are unseen
And everything is extraordinary
But Jesus put mud
And spit
Into a man's eyes one day
And afterward he washed
and was made whole again

Tragedy

such a broken mess
we don't want any more than this
we don't want any less
we're never no
we're never fully yes

and your love opens old wounds
like paper slices open skin

Trees

All this new life hovering over me
A protective canopy
The Spring trees are in bloom

Scarves

Freedom
Her brown, patterned scarf
Indiscriminate
Covered
Among us

Her skin
Holding her bones in
Keeping us out

Crowded

You're a crowded cave
There's nothing right between us
Why am I waiting

Flowing

I don't own any poetry
For these
Anymore

No longer
Do I pull apart their ribs
And climb into their heart

The best of me
Flowed freely
Mixed with too much rain
Washed down the mountain

Now both of us are clean
But so far away

A Safe Place to Stand

A void behind me
Blurring the past
Until it's senseless
A void everywhere ahead
An indiscernible future
The only safe place
Is a mathematician's quiet office
An old book on problem solving
A familiar place to drink coffee
Old towels and jeans
The here and now collapses
and falls into the void
Like lungs that cannot sustain breath
Each moment races past me like this
There are hazards everywhere
There is void on every side
I strain against the blurriness of it
Against the ambiguity
I struggle for a safe place to stand
And there is none
This is my Lent

Self-Indulgence

Self-indulgence
A little sleep
Driving the opposite direction
When you know
Where you should be
And who

Held

A strange calming peace
Like a hand against the door
Keeping this life safe

Misconstrued

These new words
Are afterthoughts
You didn't think them
While the picture was being taken

It wasn't until later
That it seemed like
Something
You should have felt

I was there
It was more like irritation
Than love
Or than fondness
You should have smiled less
Because now you don't remember
How bothersome it all was

We Are Bending

This room I've established as my own
Unthinkingly shaped into my soul's target
Bullseye
Unfortunate
That pile of laundry has taken over

Learning

I go

Not to teach
What God has said
To the generation before me

But to learn
What he is saying
To us

Similar

That homeless man
Sitting on the short wall
Paused in reflection
Looks a lot like my dad looks
When his mind has wandered
And he's looking off into the distance
Hands holding onto the bowl

Like I will look in a few years

Prayer

Sometimes sadness
Is the only prayer one has

Sometimes anger
Sometimes fear

What Is

What we have
Is unattainable

Shopping Carts

Shopping carts
Rolling across the pavement
Our lives are out of control

Life Mottos

Making it
Common
Getting it
Cheap

My Waterfall

In the forest at the top of the street
I played in the waterfall
And as I swam I had a dream,
I was alone on an island
This cool water was mine
Here in its loving arms
I became a woman
Grew old and died
Then rose again anew
This very water
A body surrounding me
Waiting for my aging
Healing with its waiting

I was alone on my island
My secret waterfall gave
I took and cherished everything