am i going to be like
my favorite song in tenth grade:
the one i memorized all the words to
& listened to 347 times
which subsequently lost all its meaning?


or the quotes & photos i hang up
on my bedroom wall with the
intent to inspire:
the ones that i wake up to everyday
& seize to notice anymore?


will you see my face & hear my laugh
& look into my eyes one
too many times: will i
begin to become
ordinary, too?

out of the ordinary // a.s.m

i am restless
within, aching
for wildness 
running after a dream 
unsure of what it is 

i am hungry for dirt
and the smell of
rain, 
i feel uncooked inside
 
i am not ready to give myself
to anything 
because there is so much to know
so much to yearn for,
to love

i wonder what would silence
the hunger.

hungry heart // a.s.m 

there is so much within me
things i don’t understand
that overwhelm me

like standing in one of those lottery games
where the dollar bills fly all around you
& you have to try & catch them

my emotions
& physical sensations
fly every which way within me
and all i can do is watch them swim around my head
dizzying
nameless 

& i don’t understand how to name them
i don’t even understand how to feel them
how to hold them
how to make them feel whole &
heard & known so they can 
stop haunting me

there is so much within me
i don’t know how to feel.

forgiveness is falling from
the sky
pushing dirt and gravel 
down the streets, 
singing. 

and i stand outside
mouth and heart open 
wide and let it 
drench me, inside 
and out

clean and
consume me.

and as it permeates my skin, 
i will not fight it 
but let it in.

i’m ready to forgive // a.s.m

it is always
mitigation with you,
always putting out fires but
never trying to prevent them
letting the sagebrush grow
just enough that you can
consume it again


but i thought you were the adult
here


i thought being an adult meant
knowing how to love
like really
love without hurting
each other


you yell at me from across
the table &
even in the dim light
i know there are eyes 
on us


& in silence i stare at
you & marvel
that of all the conceptions
occurring in the year of 1994,
of all the uteruses &
fetuses to inhabit those uteruses
& consciousnesses to inhabit those fetuses
God decided to give me
to you


it hurts too much to think
there was no method to this


again, you apologize
& allow the act in itself
to forgive you


you snore heavily in the car
as i drive us home.
while you dream i wonder
when i will finally say
it’s okay

some days
you are silent
& to me it feels greater
than the 3,000 miles
between us.


& in this silence I fear
the worst
& in this silence I fear

a silence I know well

a silence I have felt
before

withdrawal of
emotions & words
intended to wound;


in my heart I know
you always call

but I am still learning
to feel silence
as more than a
punishment.

getting over a cold shoulder // a.s.m

Be like the Earth. She doesn’t care if you love Her or think She’s beautiful. She continues existing the way She has always existed; She continues doing exactly what She has done since She was born. Some people revel in Her beauty. Some destroy it: they tear Her down and tell Her how She should be and try to change Her to meet their needs. But She does not change; She does not bend. She continues to be how She always has been. The streams that have always flooded continue to flood. The forest fires continue to burn. Droughts continue to dry the land. We blame Her for being herself, for refusing to change for us, and yet She continues on. 

Be like the Earth. It is okay to catch fire– it clears crowded places and makes them clean. Let there be drought and flood to allow seeds to germinate and grow. The universe is inside you– do not fear these times. Do not dam the floods within you or try to put out your fires. Let them cleanse you, let them grow you, and no matter what, continue to persevere.

Be like the Earth: cause earthquakes in cities you never wanted built in the first place.

Be like the Earth // a.s.m