Don't Hold Back

Some people don't speak
Lest they jinx the future.

On partially cloudy days
I prepare my shadow:
Should I disappear,
I won't be gone for long.

Cloud's of uncertainty
Are impermanent.
Now is always Then
As if it never Were before.

The School System

It makes me sad to see
an ice-cube melt
before it reaches its potential.
Sometimes no one gives
an ice-cube a chance to
cool down a drink
or soothe a soar on a gym warrior's knee.

The system is selfish.
They choose only the top ice-cubes
from the bucket.
The bottom ones are left to
melt and deconstruct
the perfect lattice structures
of their neighboring cubes.

The system is not set at zero.
The weight of the upper ice-cubes,
should not be greater than
that of the students on the bottom.
Remember back in fifth grade
when you first balanced equations?

The system has failed.
Today, only part of the world drinks cool lemonade.
There are children left thirsty.
Have you thought about tomorrow?

a Curse

When you write enough fiction

you begin to forget

My memories

are of photographs

Mathematics

I fell asleep in my text book
and woke up with
plus signs
dividing the contours of my jawline
and numbers dotting my forehead.
As I reached for my pencil,
formulas, postulates, and theorems
unstuck from my unfurling body
and landed in my heap of unanswered questions:

Why does a universal language
accept erasers and calculators,
but when it comes to international relations,
not consider the numbers?

Comfort

I wonder:
Does silence get along with his neighbors?
Does he warmly welcome with
jello salad
and dishes of casserole?
I want to know his recipes for
mac-n-cheese,
brownies,
and mashed potatoes.
They're the kind of recipes
I'd pass on to my daughter
after her first break up,
when she has nothing to say at all,
but really
her thoughts are racing
and her only friend
-for the moment-
is cast in the air between us.

He Knows Who He Is (You Know Who You Are)

I'm sorry I described you
In such a manner
that you found out
that I noticed your spine.

I should have asked
Your permission
Before I tried to understand
the contours of your mind.

If I've gotten you wrong
or offended you so
please tell me, because I know
that assumption is blind.

"Love" Story

There was a young girl who was puzzled by her parents attitude. They did not fall anywhere on her scale of love. No touching, no smiles, and any laughter that escaped actually concealed her parents disgust with one another. Pleasant exchanges between the couple were staged. To make up for it, the girl started pretending.

She pretends that her father and mother met in their mid-twenties. They were introduced by a mutual friend who they did not want to disappoint. Despite an obvious lack of attraction, the couple continued to talk. On the first night, they discovered that they had something in common; they both were ready to settle down.

Without concern for their offsprings' futures, the man and the woman united in marriage and the bond's of children. The love they thought would grow from family did not. In its absence grew tension and this tale.