Poem 1: 

what keeps you moving 

on days when all seems lost 

every visit to the hospital

the library book that became a friend  

what the sunrise means  

the song that lives in your bones 

your favorite memory of your father

what part of a stranger’s face 

you notice first 

what part of mine?






Poem 2: 


My poems embarrass me.

Cringeworthy, childish clichés 

not crafted, coughed up 

won’t sock you in the chest 

or cradle you in tenderness 

or reveal anything other than 

how much I want to be found 

how much I am found wanting

no talent skill intelligence love  

no restraint. 

Adults call them  “inside thoughts”

but I think the kids phrase it like 

“saying the quiet part out loud.” 

Me, too loud always, except

too quiet when volume counts.

and how can truth always sound 

like a lie on the page 

how can I leave the best out

say too much of what’s worthless

ugly and humiliating

something said a million times before 

beyond boring but

not worthy of writing once 

but me, I’ll scrawl it, share it (repeat) 

such a stupid sequence  

and everything I write feels like 

too much of me to reach anyone 

just a spiral of the same old sadness 

I’m trapped and I’m not poet enough 

to write my way out. 

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