Putting all our effort,
Into building ourselves a fort,
Will few problems sort,
If unlocking the gate does not seem worth the effort,
When others won't come out of their fort,
Afraid to trust anyone to guard their port,
When they leave their fort
To drink our port,
And toast another good sort.
He stands by the window,
a glass of whiskey in his hand,
watching the rain pull the city
into little fractured mirrors.
Ten years, he thinks, ten years
since the house fell quiet,
since the brother turned thief,
slicing chunks out of their father,
not with blades but with empty words
and promises that tore at their seams.
Love is a joke some days,
a noose others,
and tonight it’s the weight
pulling down hard
on the bridge of his nose.
He pictures his brother now,
tall, sharp-angled laugh,
skin folded with time
and shamelessness,
the guileless predator
preying on the man who raised them,
left him lighter in the pockets,
heavier in the heart.
And though he loves him
doesn’t he always?
he could snap his neck clean
if the moment called for symmetry.
But Cain and Abel,
he wonders,
were the gods wrong to decide
who bled first?
Some sins stink worse,
and guilt is always tender.
The sun flickered behind the mountain peaks, as if to tell me it was still there.
As sky and heat bled into mist that wrapped around me, unaware.
Love landed hard and buried deep as the evening sun glinted in her eyes.
The life I knew was lost to time, as beyond the distant hills the sun chose once more to die.
As darkness welcomed moonlight’s glow, I could only see her smile.
Yet pain still filled my heart, knowing my plea would never be enough.
At her feet I fell to earth upon my knees,
To promise her, forever, my heart and soul.
the wolf pup chose the boy
and you know they find a companion for life
flattered boy was filled with joy
named his wolf pup Randy Rife
Randy Rife was loyal to him all his days
Stayed next to him, devouring meat scraps
They were best friends in so many ways
both learning many computer apps
the wolf heard a howling one night
it stopped his video gaming, outright
What is that? He asked his favorite boy
Boy knew he would soon be losing his favorite toy
Yes, the next time the howl came, gone was Randy Rife
Out in the wilds of the night to seek a better life
He ended up with a wonderful life long mate
He brought him to meet his pal, who said “she is great!”
I think what angers me most isn't that you might leave.
It's that you handed me a decision
I was never allowed to make.
You decided I should have known.
You decided what I meant.
You decided what my silence said.
And somewhere in all that deciding,
you forgot to ask me.
You wanted an explanation,
but only if it agreed with the story you'd already written.
So don't tell me I wasn't honest.
Tell me
you stopped listening
before I started speaking.
It was not one thing—
not a single blade of thought
but a field of them,
thin, dry, whispering
against each other in the wind of my mind.
Morning came like a bill I could not pay.
Light pressed its hand to my face
and I turned from it,
as if the sun itself had asked too much of me.
My body—
this animal I have carried for years—
lay down in the middle of the day
as though struck,
as though it had run too far
without water.
I could name the losses
like bones in an X-ray—
each one bright,
each one undeniable—
but naming did not lessen them.
It only proved they were there.
The rooms were filled with ordinary objects—
a glass, a chair, a door half-open—
and each one seemed to say:
you must go on,
you must go on,
you must go on.
I did not want to stay.
That is the simplest truth.
But something—
not hope, not even strength—
something smaller,
a thread, a tendon, a quiet refusal
deep in the muscle of being—
held.
So I left.
Not because the world softened,
not because the pain spoke kindly,
but because somewhere in me
there was still a witness
who would not leave my body behind.
Black and white are you Milo.
Wearing your tuxedo fur,
like no other.
You stand alone.
What a presence,
with such simplicity.
Your strength and neediness
says so much.
Remember me
more than the faults.
I chose you as you chose me.
Where wall meets ground
and nothing's round,
by God's design
on that straight line
a lizard's found.
Where wind blows air,
a child's gold hair
flies all around -
a princess crowned
laughs without care.
Nobody knows
where the time goes.
On that day, fair,
a boy was there,
the day he chose.
You might not like me
after you read this—
but this poem has been
simmering in my soul for years.
If what I say
doesn’t sit well with you,
please know:
I’m just a girl who loves Jesus,
and a girl with a pen.
They come first—
this little soul.
They come before
the teacher’s job,
the nursing degree,
before the sales assistant role,
or the receptionist desk.
If you would go hungry,
or be left without shelter,
then this poem
is not for you.
But if you can survive
without the pay—
then could you dare to say:
I can…
but I chose not to.
Because, instead—
I chose you,
little one.
Choose Democracy Cascade Poem
choose democracy
or fascism
or rightism
That is the question
We must answer
choose democracy
Do we have a king
or a dictator
Or fascism?
No King Day is coming
protest
rightism
I never let you go, I never even tried, I looked at you once and the whole world died.
Confided in what we call our own, yet you were the only person I had ever called home.
You were put under my story, the ink never wrote your name,
but I know anything different would never be the same.
A lover to choose, yet there’s always something to lose, I love you, still.
Perhaps it’s not the first day we met, but every time your eyes gaze mine, it’s like we have just met for the first time.
That same rush, that same skipped beat, that same fading frown, in a moment of fleet,
the movement of the heart, the hidden smiles, the distant spark, it’s all been you.
For as long as I can remember, from the unplanned meets, all the way to last November.
It’s always you, forever, I still say that even if it is prohibited we be together,
though I may need you like the moon needs the sun, I always seem to forget that you have already chose someone.
The power in your eyes got me in my thoughts,
And the happiest moments that we share,
With real love that grows through time,
And never in a minute.
I mean
I could rewrite the alphabet
Just for U and I to be close.
You shine Like a star
An angel sent from above.
Still,
I promise to be true,
And give my all to you.
For your love is medicine
And you got me overdosed.
Many says love is blind,
But I can see it in your eyes.
And of course,
I see a queen in you.
All in all, it's you I choose.
The long-awaited naked truth
Today, I undress my words.
Before you came, the nights were long,
The house was cold, the world felt wrong.
Three boys too young to understand,
Why life was harder than we planned.
Our trust was gone, our hope was thin,
But still you came, and still walked in.
No blood to bind, no name to share,
Yet somehow we found safety there.
You fixed what life had torn apart,
Not just our home, but in our hearts.
Through scraped-up knees and sleepless nights,
You stayed to teach us wrong from right.
You mended more than broken toys,
You healed a mother, saved her boys.
Turned shouting walls to quiet halls,
Gave us a home where laughter calls.
The word “dad” felt strange to say,
But you earned it, day by day.
You gave us more than we ever had —
Not just a stepdad — you’re simply Dad.
Roads We Chose
If you travel down the wrong Lane
where humanity is swept away
with hate and viral diatribes
well then you know
Tom Petty
has inseminated his seed
they knock on all doors
if a narrow mind will answer
ring ring
oh ,my hatred sings
do not be a little mind
unless genocide is your thing
You ask why I chose you.
I thought you knew!
I chose you like clean air
Because you refreshed my existence
I chose you like the ocean
Because you regulated the climate of my spirit
I chose you like the sun
Because you nourished my heart’s daily routine
I chose you like the soil
Because you filtered the waters of my life that keep me clean
I chose you like the sanctity of tears
Because you supported my focus and cleared my vision
I chose you like laughter
Because you elevated my mood and provided a mirror for my decisions
You ask why I chose you
Without you I was quite capable of becoming the best version of my soul
But together we merged two lives that rendered us one and whole
I thought you knew…my soul chose you
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