"I can be someone's and still be my own." -- Shel SilversteinSide blog: @a-sign-of-fire
263 posts
Sitting on the curb The cement was warm And cracked Like the lines In our palms
Do you ever smell a flower And know that it's my favorite?
I put my hands In my sweatshirt pockets Like you might hold them
Have you ever looked toward the horizon And seen me looking back?
I could have laid down In the middle of the street And melted away Into oblivion With a smile on my lips
The parishioners walk the oldest streets Late in the scornful, spectral night "Begone you devil spirits!" they cry "Protect us from their ancient blight!"
Dressed in robes of black and white The priest in front calling, praying Chanting like they are summoning ghosts Ironic, the wraiths are hiding, playing
"Begone you hateful, wicked things!" The churchgoers try to cleanse the town Where once they scorched their witches Now cackling, the terrified voices drown
She covers herself In tattoos And piercings Dyes her hair Many vibrant colors Then says She doesn't like Modified bodies And uses it As a reason Not to be with me
He said I wasn't the center Of the universe but I was a star He never orbited around me And I was strong but never asked
I was no galaxy I had no planets
But he was an asteroid that Got caught up in my pull He could never look at me Or be close enough to touch
I was too bright I was too hot
And I could not be cold or dull I was a wildfire untamed So I was just one burning star Among the infinite others
A lyric in a song speaks To me, it lights my mind Clicking my pen And I will think of those words Just two, or a phrase Mulling them over Ruminating on an element The same one I always think of The idea of water Again I'll think of the ocean Or of beaches, of swimmers, Just the word "dive"
And I won't end up writing About diving at all Not about hearts in the sea Nothing at all nautical But the word "dive" It just sounds so nice Saying it aloud so softly Rolling a wave in my mouth And then silently I'll retract the pen Put my headphones back on Thinking, thinking, zoning
Instead I will write about Writing, or a process About listening to music Thinking about words that I don't put down, about Images of swimmers with tanks Reaching the ocean floor To find a lover's guarded Buried treasure, but I won't write about that I'll keep it locked up Safe in my mind forever Unsaid, unwritten, remembered
I think I misunderstood you Sandman, I apologize You were no devil but protector Throwing your sand in my eyes You kept me safe when I could not bear to be awake My Sandman, my savior I'm sorry, I never realized
When life got overwhelming You brought me a land of dreams A place to rest, to heal Created rejuvenating scenes You were no trickster Feeding me knock out mixtures I'm sorry for my behavior You've been a friend it seems
I am always drawn to water It is not my sign But I am in love with Cancer Her fluid emotions And I feel her in the Unfurling of waves
I swim in her like A brush mixing paint Like cream poured in coffee Or ink dripped on a page I am flowing Completely immersed in her
She takes me to an island Under her planet moon Soaking in the night Fierce as Diana She will rise up and Snatch me down into the sea
Let's not tarnish the sky By throwing money at space races While children who wish upon stars Are starving to death in streets While workers are catching the plague Earning a wage that isn't living Just to pay for your contest
Let's not tarnish the sky Please don't tarnish the sky Leave the stars to those who need them Please just let the stars remain
I would like to be no one A nameless, faceless, Shapeless form To walk through life Unknown Lost in the norm
Everything I do will blend Into the scenery, The earth, unheard And I, no one, am but a wisp, My life Never occurred
When I have gone in whisper Give me an Unmarked stone Or better yet, nothing No one was here I, thankfully, was alone
I felt creation in my mind Maybe as a mother giving birth Horrible, painful, terrifying But oh, what it was worth
I felt creation in my mind As a seedling start to sprout Small at first then suddenly It all came shooting out
I felt creation in my mind When I was cold and numb But it felt wrong and ugly And my voice felt small and dumb
There was creation in my mind When I first made myself And broke away from cogs and wheels To be other, something else
Creation knocked upon my mind And it begged me to be heard When I shoved it away It helped me find the words
I felt creation in my heart When I first looked upon those eyes It was never in my head When I needed to be wise
We speak in tongues The wicked we Me and my anxieties
Losing peace And lost to sleep No sleep tonight for me
My words are jumbled Mumbled sounds Can you find them In the lost and found?
Insane is pain In painful times These chains aren't yours But mine
It's in the way you tuck your hair Behind your ear In the way you speak your words Soft and clear In how you make yourself feel close Like you are here The way you navigate the world And hold your fears
It's in the way you tilt your head In photographs The way you light up when you're glad Your sneaky laugh It's how you say what's in your heart And don't hold back How you are strong and hold your own But don't attack
It's in the way your forge your path No compromise When you let me walk with you I get butterflies I love to see which way you go Every surprise Love is in the way you dream Watching the skies
Love is how you've looked at me With kindest eyes Love is when you hold my hand And don't patronize How you've been vulnerable with me Not afraid to cry It's how we let each other breathe Without cutting ties
In the empty orchard Among the crisp apples And softer pears, Brown and green, The apples red and yellow, Losing their grip On their branches In the hour before dark Where no bonfires burn A quiet that is alone, mine
The air is full of Ragweed and dying grass, The sweet scent of Fallen fruits sinking Into the bed of the earth, Feasts for wriggling worms Before the frost comes Early in the morning, I am here with the last Of the colors of trees
Sheep getting sleepy, Too sleepy to count them Their sounds replaced by The last croaking frogs, The lingering buzzing of Wings on insects, Before they hibernate In frozen lakes Before the sun falls Further behind the barn
A man came out to pick The field of daisies The flowers so densely woven Entwined in each other That the ripping was Unbearable as they were Separated and potted Side by side in the window Their time together quick Their longing an eternity
I watch the spider Weaving fresh webbing Because spiders don't Have five day forecasts This spider doesn't know How soon it will rain That all its hard work Will have been in vain
The wolf spider Accepts the advances Of her strongest suitor Knowing as she snatches And savors her final meal Soon her plump body Will feed her children Dozens of her a copy
I watch the spiders My eight legged allies I see them hatch Love them living here Knowing in a year Or much sooner I will Find them delicately Crumpled on the ground Lifeless and so still
No one reads an open book They only tear out handfuls Of their favorite pages Give the binding a final look Tossing it into the fire That scatters then rages
Stories of magic hidden A life so private Gone up in the smoke The erasure of the forbidden Secrets of the temple ashen No wondering mind to provoke
I will live alone Detached But I will be no spinster Perhaps instead A weaver Of loose threads That flow to me Over salty waves, making Their landing In the sands of a Beach I will never visit So the seagulls Will carry your damaged Pieces of fabric Home to me
The bones in my legs Are no bones at all They are leaden and heavy And it took me a long time To accept that I Needed some help just To learn how to stand
You ask me to walk Like it is easy Because everyone with Skin and muscle can do so Because though you may know The lead is not Visible to you And your understanding of me
So when you hang your head When you are short with me And I am trying to move And I am so tired And you are upset What else can I do But resign to apology?
What is the usefulness Of regret? When the days and months Move ever forward And moments passed Are like photos, Some were not taken As well as others
There is a Transcendence in The letting go The long farewell to Yesterday's bowed head Presently washed clean, Hung out to dry In the ever persistent Cleansing of sun
Why wish for any decision To have gone another way? Would the lines On palms, in diaries Have brought us here If we made a choice With our head Not our heart Or simply on impulse?
What do they teach In beauty school? How to rearrange A dandelion to make it Worthy of being a flower?
Do you ask the waves To smooth the rocks Because they aren't Pretty enough for Social media pages?
Does a cloudy day Need a makeover? Do you wash trees? And how do you blow Dry them perfectly?
Look how unsettled They are, sweetheart Mainstream society Shaking their label Makers in our faces Demanding we bend To their jaded ideas Fake beauty standards And accept it all as Flawless dharma
How lucky we are To have effortlessly Escaped the downfall Of our communities If we ever belonged To any at all In the first place, We're just laughing
You and I take Unmarked, high grass Tick filled walks Away from the markers Heavy breathing Trudges into our Very own meadow Of unquestioned and Unblinking acceptance
My love, you have Never asked questions Of me, or asked me To try to understand Never did you worry That I wouldn't see you Or leave you alone By the weeping willow
We always read similar Philosophy books Flipping pages and Comparing interpretations You've never had to try To define yourself To explain away Your perfect face I knew you before You told me your name
She asks me casually Why do I love you? And what sort of question is that?
I love you simply because I know no other way of being To not love you is not an option To not love you would be An emptiness my heart doesn't deserve
She asks again Why do I love you? Does she think I can find reasons?
I love you because I did once One time that is ever continuous One lifetime of love inside my body A body that is far from you still A body that holds me like I hold you
She asks once more Why do I love you? Did I not answer her question?
I love you because I want to My love for you is my greatest joy Without hope or fantasy or dreaming I love you because it is enriching I love you because it is necessary
Fire in the sky How do you still surprise me? Little sun just begun to rise And for me, no one
A glow in the night Or is it suddenly day? Your presence a heavenly, Astonishing light When you fall take me away
I, who speaks often But says much of nothing I, who pictures the words That do not come out That stumble over My tongue and teeth My brain a stuttering Then silent and empty
I will my words into being In a moment's pause In the quiet of the writing When my mind races And I can catch my thoughts I send you my voice You, who reads me You, who's eyes Pass over my letters
I, who does not screech Like the hawk in the sky Nestle my meanings in The wanderings of creatures In the sun and the trees They, who speak The same language as me Who might interpret while I am just talking to you
I meander in the forest Forget about the time Linger by fallen branches Stretch out under the pines Rest my head against the trunks And marvel at their vines
Is this a sacred place? Is this proof of the divine? It's where I come to let go What was never really mine Where I can be myself And not have to be defined
The sun sprinkles in a little I can almost see it shine It trickles through the leaves Spreading its golden lines And in the night the moon Keeps me from feeling blind
Maybe this is where our hearts go When they're following the signs When we return to the land Souls unbound and aligned This is where my love lives In all its shapes and kinds
Where do moths live in winter? Where do wild chickens go? I see them out now that it's spring But how did they brave the snow?
How do frogs slow their bodies To sleep within the ice? Who else shelters in the walls With the warm and cozy mice?
I wonder if the fish feel cold When all the lakes freeze over Now I welcome back the friends I haven't seen since last October
Though the finches and the foxes Have been here all year long I just saw the first chipmunk Since all of them had gone
How do rabbits breathe In all the ground they are under? I guess that I could look it up But it's more fun to wonder
Little spider by the window Resting in the shade I like your coloring I like the web you made
You're hanging upside down In your messy little nest I wonder if you're hungry Or eating tiny pests
I don't know where you came from You suddenly appeared I hope you stay a while I like that you are here
Did you lay me down Or let me go? From fear or mercy I don't know And you are with me Even so
I feel you in rooms That feel like home See you on streets I drive alone Your serenity Inside my bones
Did you send a song Over a breeze? I can hear your Peaceful melody And I sing with you In harmony
I saw you when the sun went down There was a spark You saw me as the night came We saw each other in the dark
Maybe we hesitated for a moment For hands to hold Finally when they touched There was a jolt
You and me and an abandoned place An apartment high in the city In a blacked out world The roofs gray and gritty
But you laid your palm on mine And the current flowed Through our fingertips and wrists Our arms began to glow
In an older kind of world You and I were electric Before we were drawn together We never knew we kept it
As our hands lit up our faces I kissed you on the lips We shocked our hearts so hard The current slightly tripped
The people down below us murmured As our light grew and grew I think your eyes were just as bright As mine were for you
When you kissed me back We shook the floors Trembling in the building Rattling all the doors
The people started running Some yelling up the stairs But neither of us heard them We were both unaware
Surrounded in a shield of power Afraid we might explode You squeezed my hands as we burst Away on our currents we rode
There's a little cave On a little beach That for most people Is just a little out of reach But for us It's always worth getting there
Past the palm trees Through the vines We walk there barefoot Taking our time Since for us It's our magic little somewhere
We lean on the damp rocks Hand in hand And we don't talk Dig our toes in the sand Our paradise is Quiet like like the waves
I watch you Looking out towards the sea Where the gulls cry Where you walk with me When you can't make it here To our simple hidden cave
We light our candles They light up our eyes Burn up our fears And our disguises So by amber nights We really see each other
When the sun comes up We go out again Say another farewell To our secret den Go our separate ways Always coming back for one another