Riding Through the Trees

Crisp burnt marshmallow air bites the whites of your eyes

Pine trees stand proud in the setting orange light

Cheeks chilled and dewy

Mittens rub together in solidarity before grabbing handle bars

You take off down the road

The blue rusty metal rattling away

The wind washes your senses

As you ride through the reds, oranges, and yellows

Leaves are flying and crunching all around you

Windows start to glow warm

Lights of home peek through the cold

The sky darkens as the mystery grows

You speed through it all taking it in

A rhythm between your foggy breath, your pedaling feet, and the lights and trees passing along the street

A clearing ahead, legs are getting heavy

Pushing through to the top you see a view grand and wide

You stand proud in the setting orange light

Embracing the stillness as the world goes quiet

Summer Senses

Sunny trees, sunny hills

Flickering breeze sweet with summer

Serene swimming pool sky

Rich mint, lavender, jasmine

Eucalyptus and pine

Floating on summer senses

Drifting me down a clear twinkling river

Filled with joyful light

Sepia Toned Stranger

Sitting next to people
Strangers riding on their own soundscapes
In their own waves of emotion
Their own worlds
Islands of stories I wouldn’t understand
What are they going through?
Those serious eyes are so far away
A distance no one can see

You blend in at first
With all the other ghosts
I used to know you
I used to know everything about you
You contrast with the
Busy colorful world around you
An ancient photograph
Glowing bright from the past
A sepia toned stranger
A foreign presence in my life
Alienly wandering in a planet
That no longer belongs to you
The clock hands quiver
With a wisper from the past
Time stands still
Slow motion, backwards, parallel
Fading in and out
From you and the here and now
A confused euphoria
Of how we’ve come so far
I don’t even know who you are
How the distance was made clear
By you simply standing there
And as smoothly as you appeared
You gracefully disappear

Winter Sunlight

Hey, it’s okay
There’s sun in December
You can find a way out
Feel that life, that air
You can fly
Your heart has wings
They lift your feet
And you can float in the glimmering light
Cheerful sparkling magic all around
Wake up, feel it now
Reach for it
Ignore the shadows that trail behind
Pull away, follow the light
Follow the joy
Let yourself feel more than alright
It’s so bright
Why not believe in this wonderful sight

Listen to Your Heart

What does your heart sound like
Does she sound like moonlight?
Soft and cool, silent and peaceful?
Or does she sound like spring?
Warm and sweet, delicate and soft?
What does your heart sound like?
Is she telling you what to do?
Or is she shyly waiting in the corner?
Hands in her lap.
Does she speak in words or in thoughts?
Or does she speak in drifting waves that make you smile?
What does your heart sound like?

Keep listening.

Lost Poems from High School: Flashlight

Looking out the closed window
Pointing a flashlight, trying to light up the darkening scenery
Attempting to brighten the wide horizons
But I can’t see, not yet.
Everything is passing, all the separate lives, places and people
I’ll never know and never forget.
I feel them walking along, own missions and trials in mind.
Looking forward, living with the past on their shoulders.
Smiling faces of strangers holding,
Tucking away the omnipresent moments,
The moments that they are distractedly smiling against.

I wonder about the things I don’t want to know about,
And look through windows to other windows,
Hoping to see what they see.
But I see someone lost in the distance, in the middle of it all.
All these things will be left unsaid.
This season is consuming me, I fall asleep,
With a loud, thundering train in the sky,
The rosy glow of an oncoming storm.
My flashlight shines back up to the sky, simple and small,
Like David’s sling shot against Goliath
I hide in my umbrella of shadows that the brightness creates.
One day, the shadows will fade, daylight will break
And the sun will meet my tiny light.
I’m going to run from this,
A chance that ignites my feet.

Lost Poems from High School: Good Weather

Sometimes good weather can make me sore
Ancient memories
Fade and reappear
With each passing day.
Histories of other peoples lives
Collide and find a home in me.
I feel like soaking in the moonlight
And breathing in all the dew drops
On this lonely hill.
I roll along in my dreams.
Every statement said
Makes a ripple effect in my head.
There’s a search light lost
Inside me focusing on
The detail I wish for so much.
Something was cut short
An important line or two
That I didn’t say or hear.
Disillusioned desires are
Crying, pining for
Something deeper
The pretty water and the smiling sky
They’re unsettling.
Why can’t I be satisfied with all that I see,
With all that I have?
My heart runs in place
As I watch the world accelerate

Lost Poems from High School: Cliff Jumpers

Standing proud on cliffs, they
jump into the clouds attempting to float
above hopes and wishes.
They strive to be like gods, distant from their
desires, but they are spellbound in stiff coats.
Fake fire cracking stars, burning too much to be
anything more than cliff jumpers jumping for
the sake of risking survival.
Forlorn like a card game in a spaceship with
the darkness all around, they sink.
The alien t.v. mutters and spits excitement, spitting
words, junky prizes, and equipment for their disguises.
They play games with their far away dreams, sometimes
dipping back in the clouds, struggling to aspire to higher
atmosphere where the air is clear.
If they push they will come through, but if
they’re too tired, they can give up
and be forgiven.

Lost Poems from High School: Night Ride

Under the dark sky, a forlorn road in the middle of nowhere,
Night time countryside, winding through the shadows,
The glow of deep blue,
Swooping through nothingness, kind understanding,
Comforting, a good dream,
Stars gliding above,
We’re safe here tonight,
So cool and warm.
Taken away, riding on our synchronized melodies,
The world is our best friend,
Chased by daylight,
We will never know, never know
In the car with spirits soaring so far in the deep sky.
No distance from what’s real,
Evening silence, morning light.
Sweet time fades into the passing day.

Lost Poems from High School: Paradox

It’s a constant buzzing.
I want to be myself inside and out
I can’t tell if I’m hiding, am I? I think we’re all hiding
I’m living in a paradox
Meditating, I feel like an awkward imposter trying to relax with an absent mind, ridding myself of the consciousness I feel all the time
The critic is always sarcastic and closed, making fun of the intimacy of the world.
The innocent love the world and they’re never afraid or ashamed. They play and enjoy, they’re not faking anything.
I feel asleep with a busy mind.
I’m embarrassed and I don’t know why
I want to be but I don’t.
I feel like I’m floating in a fog and no one can really see me
and I can’t really be here.
When we’re grown it seems we feel restricted and
only gifted with reputations.
There’s cursing inside my head,
Woke up on the wrong side of the bed today,
I’m frustrated, angry for no reason.
What kind of poison is this?
Maybe I’m just tired.
There’s something I wanted to say,
But I’m living on a slippery slope.
I keep quiet while you wait
for me to show you who I am.
I don’t know who I am!
My feelings, I can’t organize them.
Let’s withdraw from this situation.