Slimy thoughts packed like sardines Writhe and wriggle in my head Waiting for the moment The tin can closes And leaves them to fester In the brine As their thin scales Dissolve into nothingness And bulging, dead eyes Gaze into the darkness Of the universe And cry salty tears As it stares back With pure ...

Am I a puppet?A monkey destined tosing and dance on a whim?If I slap on foundation,pretty pink lipstick,and fake lashes,will I be real?Or if I toss my templefrom person to person,like a game of hot potato,will that be enough?Should I let rugged hands travelwhat the good Lord made,just to earn a penny of affection?Or allow ...

I wish I could say that you’ve learned, that you’re excelling that you’ve refocused your goals and you’re concentrating on improving. But all you’ve done is plan strategize formulate ideas suggest schedules that you break in a week. All you’ve done is prove that you’re weak unfocused easily sidetracked and inconsistent. I want nothing more ...

Twenty-five years later, It’s illegal to carry breast milk onto an airplane.   They’ve never caught a lactating hijacker, But neither has the Patriot Act tapped into a terror cell, State-mandated testing increased our nation’s Rhodes Scholars, Or a corporation followed a gut feeling toward human morality Over rape and pillage profits.   The Department of Homeland Security, Despite power’s ...

I wait on you now, O’ Lord, like any moment of my life. The tree leaves across the river change color, against the setting sun the perfect backdrop of orange and red, along the horizon and my heart pangs for the life-giving water of the steady stream of your love. Every created being that draws ...

On the shadowed edgeof the causeway’s secluded tunnel,I see blurry streaksof bespeckled light. Nothing is certain here –not a breath of wind in sight –only the feeling of movement;of something tender and bright. The tunnel’s inner funnel humsand flutters with a quiet fire.Suddenly, spirited birds erupt –wings sparkling, sprightly flyers. Then, ceremoniously,they luminously journey towardthe renaissance ...

In every season of life,among the impossible,keep on trying. In the valley of death,with every failure,keep on trying. In every heartache,when it feels hopeless,keep on trying. I do not know whybut somehow I must tryto keep on trying. Even when I’ve criedenough tears to fill up rivers,I must keep on trying. Despite the voidyou left ...

How does it feel to live in the shadow of a ghost, a memory, a period that has long since past?  How does it feel to know that you can never measure up and that whatever you do would always be considered second best?  How does it feel to know you’ll never be good enough, ...

A day of rest, a day of play,A day to keep sadness away.Drink some good coffee, read a book,Rest your bones in a secret nook,Forget the world outside your walls.It is your day; you make the calls!Do only what you want to do.Relax your mind and see it through.You deserve a day to existWithout long ...

I’m following an interrupted flight pathof thick, black, wiry lineswhich crisscross inside my mind,like aerial railroad tracksthat travel for miles and miles —endlessly from post to post,and pylon to pylon. Tirelessly on and on, I keep flyingtoward the last tower of poweruntil there, on the unreachable horizon,I see that shimmering golden light. Editor: Erynn Crittenden