I love you

all the feelings in the world
piled on my head
every hair of emotion
and I'm pulling them out
painfully, slowly
methodically, one by one
and forcibly shoving them into three words
I love you

looking at myself
well actually looking at you
but I meant introspective
pitiful, bald, invested
and your response is a hug
and a casual kiss

and the backwards thing is
your reaction meant more
nothing substantial, but more
than all the feelings in the world

if in anger I can say things I don't mean
then can't any feeling betray me?

love without restlessness

walking across the january iced parking lot
your lips will hold a cigarette and smirk
cold drizzle, long jacket
I won’t run
we won’t discuss
a new love will guide me

Tree Haiku

Like last year, she drew
knotted, leafless trees in ink.
“Leaves sprout!” she pleaded.

Café & Simplicity

a
tiny box of sunlight and brick
coffee smell and wood floor
chatter and waiting
for eye contact
for connection
for you

be
here for me
even though you declare
with a snort that I’m a cliché
for supporting a coffee chain instead of
the mom-and-pops next door

see,
I never claimed
I was original.
I am human
so human
so limited
(but united)
by emotion and needs.

Humility

I’ve
tripped
fallen
and stumbled
to see
that there
is beauty
in spite of me.