as animals
we are born
and live-
and die
as animals.
Leaving work today
felt like work release
my job is easy peasy
hate it anyway
pay good benefits fine
my soul wants more
i yearn to create
something meaningful
i have many regrets
this–my biggest one
spent my life there
eight different jobs
not one fulfilling
saw this online
a paycheck is a bribe
to keep you from
fulfilling your dreams
this hit hard
it’s true
I’m guilty
Monday nights
i get a knot in my belly
Tuesday is day one
Working on an
escape plan
One day I’ll be free
fried dandelions taste best
with a cup of sassafras tea
boiled in an old silver kettle
that had seen better days
talking about local lore for
hours and days, class after
class; roy rickey and stella
kinney, and so much more
miles and hours of hiking
out at carter caves in the
blistering late summer
sun that beat down on us
spotting local trees, birds,
rocks; or just listening as
the breeze rustled leaves
and crickets called out
we never truly knew the
value of what we were
learning, not back then
now though i can see the
things that mr. carter was
impressing upon us
our own history matters
our own homegrown story
is worth telling; remembering
the old ways of life that most
are forgetting now -with passage
of time and growing progress
isn’t that how it happens?
the new replaces the old
it’s always better than it
was, or so they tell us
looking back now, there
isn’t anything better, we
were just too young to get
it, too young to grasp it
i get it now, sir, and i?
i am so grateful for you
-after Frank O’Hara / Ocean Vuong
someday i’ll love hunter e. westenhofer
& that’ll be all
that’ll be enough
i don’t want idleness, i just want freedom
to choose idleness
to be free from my mind-forged manacles
maybe one day, i won’t need another’s touch
to feel loved,
but maybe it’s okay
to want
Why bother watching nightly news,
another day of man’s suffering.
What will world be like when meek inherit?
Wickedness gone forever.
No greed, no war, just exquisite delight
in the abundance of peace.
caramel color,
potassium benzoate
(to protect the taste)
natural flavors, citric
acid, and holy water
A bee got me right between the toes
while I was packing my car to
leave for the week.
I always tell myself I’ll get packed early,
have everything ready, so I won’t stress
when it comes time to leave.
I always fail,
cramming shirts and shampoo into bags
when I need to go.
This was no exception,
my arms full of luggage and slip-on sandals
sliding off as I rushed across the yard
attempting to get everything loaded.
That’s when it got me.
Flew into my foot and panicked,
sacrificing itself, sending lightning up my leg
while I stumbled to hold onto my stuff.
mean gray cat’s
white socks camouflage
tiny knives–
flick of paw
nicks my wrist if I risk a
path too close by him
