Baggage

It's yours
All of it
Every single
strand
Each vibrant
color
Is yours
All of it
The smells
The tastes
The deepness
The weight
The sinking
The heaviness
It's all yours
You get to choose
what to do
with all of it
This stuff
This baggage
Drink it
Smoke it
Inject it
Sniff it
Swallow it
Cut it
Starve it
Hate it
But it will
still be there
Every second
Every hour 
Every day
Every week
Every month
Every year
Begging you 
to unpack it
Pull each piece out
One by one
Day by day
Look at it
Smell it
Taste it
Feel it
Wear it
Slip on that skin
Close your eyes
Own it
Own whatever comes
This is how you begin
to unpack
Then choose
how you release
that energy
The one stinging
your veins
Run it
Write it
Paint it
Sing it
Play it
Cry it
Laugh it
Act it
Meditate it
Yoke it
Talk it
Hug it
It's yours
All of it
It's yours
to unpack
It's yours
to carry




-September 2017

Unsettled

I'm not sure
I'll survive
this
This background noise
that keeps bleeding
static
It makes the dust
loom
And all I want
to do
is lie still
and feel nothing
but my own
beat
But the burning
The burning
makes it hard
to sit
in my own
skin
And I'm reminded
that the dust
never really
settles



-February 2017

Old Reels

I'm sorry I had to
crawl into myself
and leave you waiting
on the ledge
I left you out
in my storm
where you could not see
your own shadow
I've been digging
and digging
with my bare hands
while listening 
to the echoes
of the past
I close my eyes
Watch the old movies play
The silence
can be deafening
When I dig deep enough
I feel the hot air
It sets my body
on fire
I do not wish
to be here
But there's power
in these old reels
I've already begun
to suck them dry
I've begun to feel
the pull of opposites
and the curiosity
of who I'll find
when the reels
have finally
stopped playing



-January 2018