Where You Are

You reside within
the sunbeams I cup
against my skin
and the daydreams that blossom
before sleep creeps in
You are in the word
I dare not say
in the very first flight
of a bird
or a haunting melody
I hadn't heard

Flight

One day I will fly
My eyes touch the horizons
and soon, so will I
My wings, though clipped
will grow
And the sun, though eclipsed
still glows

My Own

My own moon
my scattered stars
the bright lights that
make the night less dark
A warmth that does not burn
but finds me
when the fog creeps in

False Skin

The biggest star reflects off of
the most lonely car.
I am not alone.
I sit and watch the parking lot of the motel.
A man walks out
surveys his kingdom.
He is suspicious of me.
I could be fresh meat;
I could also be a bust.
Everyone here wears a false skin.
The trick is discovering the nature of it.
My mother is in a deep sleep
awake, but eyes blurred by
self-induced coma.
I smoke cigarette after cigarette.
The air teases my hair.
Asphalt glistens
and boys who act like men
ask me if I have someone in my life.
I wave them off like flies.
They hover not far off
their distant words like buzzing
in my ears.
Another sound intrudes:
my name.
I unfold myself and follow,
unresisting.
Later I will ask myself
which lies were too practiced
and which truths too forthcoming?
Even I wore a false skin
during the night that came
on the heels of that day.

Dahlia

I can see her in my mind's eye and feel her in my heart: strawberry kisses and laughter like sunshine.
A child that pierces through my every shadow as though they didn't even exist. It's a delicious sort of ache that is hard to define: a desire that deepens and spreads to the tips of my toes and grows deeper as the years go by. How I long to watch her grow and progress, to make her first mistakes, to learn when to brush off the little blunders. I want to tell her that she is beautiful, because I know that she will be! She will be the brightest star in my sky, the most colorful sunrise, the most vivid painting I could ever dream of. She is my future heartbeat; she will be the blood that sings through my veins.