Academy of The Heart and Mind

launchpad

Earth is broken,
I want to                leave
find me     
                 waiting       

my disassembled launch pad
buried under dot matrix print-out instructions 
tools 
                                   somewhere

beam me up and away,
might be stranded           here   on
a planet                   that mocks
me

coordinates hazy
         but that’s a risk worth taking
to fly up and away 
because 

Earth is broken,
I want to                leave
find me
            find me

Academy of The Heart and Mind

doomed beautiful thing

after Hal Fischer’s “Bobby at the Beach”

his tenuous hold on life as delicate as any doomed beautiful thing 
beach soothing rough edges,
grinding rock to sand, and sand to dust, and dust to skin.
cotton in negative, a whirlwind
packed into those pockets, silver 
dreams blown across the waves.
grinding dreams to ash, and ash to stardust, and stardust to glitter.
a sparkling dissipation across oceans
and he will come again to this beach
leaving bread crumb trails of his longings
until his pockets are empty.

Academy of The Heart and Mind

keep out

after Olga Rozanova’s “Abstract Composition (Color-painting)”

please keep your hands and arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times
please keep your thoughts and insights inside your pretty little head 
please keep tabs on your sensuality 
please keep your story straight
please keep up appearances 
please keep
please keep
keep away
keep breathing keep breathing keep breathing
keep your weight off my shoulders 
I’m keeping score
I’m keeping my middle fingers in the sky

Snowflake Magazine

an ode to softness

soft is white sheets fresh from the dryer—

is eyelids closed and contemplative—

is fingers traveling down.

soft is not the quiet of mourners—

is not found in holy books—

is not a butterfly wing, too delicate and fragile to touch.

soft is a sigh—

is the sand that caresses the space between toes—

is a dying rose petal, brown edges curling inward.

soft wants to fill all the empty space—

wants to hold hands with the devil—

wants to dive down into the depths.

soft is ragged page of a favorite book—

is the wind that brings change—

is the heart of a poet.

bubblegum black

Hey friends! I’m have big news to announce; my brand new chapbook with Bottlecap Press! I’ve been working very hard on this for the past year and it’s finally here to share with you all! This chapbook, “bubblegum black” is about love of others and self. I’m so proud of this work and I’m so proud to share it with you. You can purchase it today at https://bottlecap.press/products/bubblegum

grim and gilded

the alchemy of us


the alchemy of us

(after e.e. cummings)

what is it about you and I

the chemistry that we do

exponential scratches on a page, not

unknowable, but a perspective only we know.

an alchemy of what

you are, what we are, what it 

is, 

skin inked with equations about

cellular reactions within me, within you

combustion that

awakens the us, and also closes

what would you say if I told you that I dream of you and

in those dreams, your smile opens

me, lays me bare, not only

removing my clothing but something 

entirely more, you see written deep in me

a language engraved on my bones that your mouth understands

you read in my entrails the

gospel of my voice

you steal my breath and use it as your 

own, hold a magnifying glass to my eyes

and inside the retina behold all that is,

all that was, and you tell me that this dream is

a holy offering of water from a well deeper

than the blood that pours from our joined veins, and redder than

the petals of a thousand roses