Poems

A few years ago, in the midst of overwhelming stress, feelings of hopelessness and isolation, poetry became an important outlet for expressing myself authentically, and creating positive change in my life. The act of writing and then reciting what I'd written helped me build confidence and even come to love myself more.

Sharing my first couple poems for the first time terrified me. It was a necessary step that encouraged me to take meaningful action in my life. A positive feedback loop began, which enabled me to progressively let more of my true self out, and re-discover who I was after years of bottling everything up.

Here are many of the poems I've written, all over the past 3.5 years. The first three are the ones that helped me become more comfortable being ME and taking the necessary leaps toward a happy, self-expressive life.

A lot of this started out with an effort to use easy, simple language, pleasing rhymes, and alliteration - a heavy inspiration from Dr. Seuss. I enjoyed the kid's book feel, with an underlying message or theme. As they go on, I explored and found inspiration in current troubles/joys, but kept much of the original vibe.

A Smile’s a Smile

When you don’t know what to do, and don’t know the way

Just think to yourself what a smile would say

Would it grin a small grin, encourage another

And flirt with a laugh while trying to cover

A mouthful of teeth bursting to break free

To show off their glistening, glimmering glee

It doesn’t quite matter how a smile is presented

For a smile’s a smile, it does what’s intended

It will bring joy to those already happy

And lift up the spirits of those feeling crappy

It says what you wanted to say without words

It speaks to the heart and does so with courage

Your smile is your own and no one can take it

So share it and show it, and always embrace it

If you smile your smile with joy and with care

Yet each time you are met with simply a stare

Don’t be discouraged and don’t stop your grinning

For a smile’s a smile, and our hearts you are winning

Jump

Just a small jump can bring joy to your day

Make your heart skip and scurry away

So let yourself go, and bend at the knees,

Then extend and expand, and set yourself free

The best part about jumping isn’t the landing

Or the fact that you started off simply from standing

It’s the feeling you get when you’re up in the air

The freedom from any old worry or care

You float for a moment before coming down

When you’ve landed at last, you can’t find your frown

Replaced by a smile and calmness of heart,

As if everything wrong had been great from the start,

So let yourself go, and lift off the ground

And feel free to bellow out any old sound

Like a hoot or a holler, or even a yell

Because you should be you, this much I can tell

Express what is real, be true and be loud

Jump as high as you feel, and make yourself proud

There’s nothing so nice as a jump just for you

The sort that seems silly and makes you feel new

So let yourself go if you feel so inspired

And jump in the air until you’re quite tired

Your legs will recover, your lungs will expand

Next time you’ll go higher, you might never land

When you jump in the air and leave baggage behind

You’ll soar to new heights, and new dreams you might find

If somehow you don’t feel like jumping at all

Perhaps you’re afraid of a terrible fall

A spill is no fun, but a scrape on the knee

Is hardly a reason not to fly free

Just remember the joy your jumping can bring

And take the big leap that makes your heart sing

What Do You See When You Look In the Mirror?

If the person you see in the mirror’s reflection

Doesn’t quite meet your ideal of perfection

Then perhaps your perspective’s not perfectly placed

And just maybe your inner-most thoughts have erased

The power that lies way down deep in your heart

And tells you each day you’ve been great from the start

You are perfectly you, in this moment in time

So meet your own gaze, allow eyes to align

And smile a smile to yourself in the mirror

You’re just right as you are, not a thing could be clearer

Feet

Take good care of your feet, for they take care of you

They lend their support in most all that you do

Each step is an effort, but your feet they don’t mind

They’re happier the more that you use them, you’ll find

They keep you upright and allow you to run

So wiggle them now and again just for fun

Your feet work so hard, and yet hardly complain

Collect mud in the yard, as they romp through the rain

Feet rarely require much love or affection

So stand till you tire, that’s their predilection,

But don’t you forget, they have needs just like you,

So when you get home, let them free of those shoes,

And make sure to massage them now and again,

Take good care of your feet and you’ll be best of friends

Be What You Are

Be what you are, embrace what is you

Do what you love, and love what is true

When you choose with your heart, you choose to be giving

So be what you love, and love how you’re living

Be Grateful, Be Patient, Be Kind

If you’re grateful and patient and kind

More often than not you might find

Those little life stressors

Which once piled on pressure

Are now hardly a weight on your mind

Trapped in Glass

When you look in the mirror what do you see?

Someone tired, inspired, excited or free?

Whether mopey or manic, blissful or blue

The one trapped in the glass is most certainly you

We see what we expect of ourselves deep inside

But at times what we see chips away at our pride

Whatever’s presented, the good, bad, or benign

Will we take it in stride, feel regret, maybe whine?

When you look in the mirror what do you see?

Is it the person you always most wanted to be?

Is it someone you love, maybe also despise

Staring straight back with unwavering eyes

A mirror’s reflection should never decide

Our sense of self-worth, or feelings of pride

You can feel free to look, just accept what you see

And always remember, it’s your own love you most need

See Your Own Truth

Sometimes your eyes can't see clear what’s right there

They see what you dream, and what makes you scared

Those things your eyes see, whether others do too

Are what make you unique, and what help make you YOU

If I’m seeing stars, in the sky bright and true

Then what are you seeing? Does it shine above too?

Sometimes what we see is one and the same

But so often our visions conflict and cause pain

We share what we see, with others nearby

But if they don’t agree, that’s when things go awry

“Just open your eyes, and you’ll see what is true”

“How could you not, we all see the same view”

No that’s not how it works, because what I see

Isn’t for you, it’s a reflection of ME

The perfect perspective is the one that combines

Everyone’s eyes, and everyone’s minds

For how can you know, what your eyes never see

Unless you can listen, to what others believe

And accept that we’re different, it’s really quite neat

Because life would be dull, if we all saw the same scene

My Darkness

I sit in the darkness, I breathe, and I think

I watch and I wait, as my thoughts pass me by

Traffic slows on the winding road of my mind

My eyes close easily and my body rests still

My breath reaches deeper into my body and soul

My heart migrates to my hands, beating heavily with warmth and power

Time moves fluidly around me. 5 seconds, 5 minutes, 5 hours. One and the same.

My mind sees all events, past, present, and future occurring simultaneously

It is the most absolute truth I have ever known

I feel the weightlessness of peace, and grounding heaviness of my hands

I fall further into the familiar comfort of the darkness

A thousand pound feather flitting through time and space

Toward the most enveloping, compassionate embrace

My darkness teaches me what I’ve always known, for the first time

An Ode to CARs (Controlled Articular Rotations)

Move your joints in a circle, as big as they’ll go

Don’t try it too fast, but instead start out slow

Just one joint at a time, keep the rest still as stone

Circles smooth over choppy, try them supine or prone

While it may not feel perfect, best not push into pain

Lest your rotational efforts be expended in vain

With consistent CARs practice, calming care for your joints

You’ll gain greater access, and discover weak points

Over days, months, and years, those points become stronger

You’ll carve out more space, and stay healthy for longer

Because force is the language of cells, and that’s you!

Just your stuff simply waiting, to be told what to do

So speak to your cells in the most direct way

With CARs when you’re stiff, and every damn day

See the more you can do, the better YOU you’ll become

When the parts excel first, then so too can the sum

Moon

Hello shiny friend in the sky, what would I do

If I could take flight and sit up there beside you

Look down at the world with your wisdom and virtue

And know not a soul could corrupt or could hurt you

⠀

With rhythmic mystique, your gifts give us life

A beacon of hope, bringing peace to the night

You move my insides, and inside me I try

To shine bright as you on a painted black sky

⠀

Hello shiny friend, won’t you show us your dark side

You’ve watched our dark days, and you’ve seen what we can’t hide

You’re there when we’re hurting, with transcendent love

And when our hearts swell, you still watch from above

⠀

But who watches you, when your wonder is waning

Where do you gaze when your days need explaining?

When answers elude you, and daytime is here

Do you too feel unseen, with a vision unclear?

⠀

Shiny friend in the sky, if the night should arrive

When your bulb’s burning low, and you feel less alive

Take some time to yourself, and we’ll lend you our light

You can show us your dark side, and you’ll keep glowing bright

Stomp

With a foot on the ground, and one in the air

Drive down your heel with nary a care

Pull your other knee up, and repeat the press

Continue this process until you de-stress

It’s a stomp, don’t you see, a purposeful step

Carried out by your feet, for rep after rep

Allow the vibrations to creep up your spine

To your shoulders and head, until you unwind

Expression is power, when powerfully done

So stomp while you glower, and when you feel glum

If the energy’s drained from your mind or your body

Start up your stomping, but don’t dare feel naughty

It’s not a bad act, the stomps and the noise

It’s natural in fact, and it helps you stay poised

Stomping’s not just for the grumpy and stressed

It’s even for folks who are feeling their best

They smile and stomp, feel the shake as they grin

The fun that they’re feeling, they let the world in

So next time it seems like you’re ready to burst

With joy or with sadness, with hunger or thirst

Lift up your foot and drive down that heel

You just never know how that first stomp might feel

Offer A Smile

When you can’t bear the next mile, I’ll offer a smile

When the next step seems too high, I’ll lend you a thigh

When your lungs might give out, I’ll scream and I’ll shout

“you’ve the strength to continue” I’ve seen it, no doubt

When you come to a cliff, on your journey to greatness

I’ll help you to fly, to make you feel weightless

When you can’t quite remember the power inside you

I’ll pull back the curtains, let your memory guide you

You’ll see what I see, everything you can be

Everything that you are, resilient and free

You can live out your dreams, and grow tall through the weeds

As long as you love and then sow your own seeds

Lies Beneath the Surface

Beneath the surface

Could be anything

Ripples above

A current below

Waves crashing down

Underneath still and slow

Peer at the surface, what does it tell you

Weeks full of nothing

Until you dip down

Into a foreign world

Trapped in time

Unrelenting, uncompromising

Unable to break through the lid of insecurity

A superficial surface

Capping the surging storm below

Saving its moments to turn clear and show

What really lies in wait

For one day of fate

When love will break the seal

And let the surface feel

Its rupture bleed and grow

Infecting its façade

With a catastrophic dose

Of forgotten fears and ghosts

A deeper truth than most

Would ever let you see

On the surface of their sea

Sharing Skies

When the skies open up, and share their insides

Step out to meet them, with wondrous eyes wide

Stomp in the puddles they’ve pooled for your feet

Spin into bushes and skip through the street

Look out for flashes and listen for cracks

From lightning and thunder, while you trace all the tracks

Of electrical etchings being drawn with a flare

Like the upside down roots of a tree in the air

Splash in the splendor, and soak up the scent

Of a summertime storm, that’ll leave you content

When the skies open up, to share what they’re feeling

It’s a gift not to miss, it’s a moment for healing

Walk in to My Dream Again (Shai)

You walked into my dream, engrossed

I took a pic to keep you close

Contained within my iphone screen

Still no one else could see but me

You faded just the same.

I still see your face and mold

Translucent form, and place you hold

When I tip my phone a certain way

You appear again, just not to stay

Fading quickly from the frame.

Moonlight March

Each crunching step takes me further from home

Each skyward gaze grabs a tear

My feet keep momentum, how far might they roam

If I can’t let go of this fear

Scanning the sky, I search stars for answers

To questions that pull on my mind

I set out on this dark winter walk in a trance

Desperate for something to find

As I beg to the wispy white clouds for some peace

And wisdom to glean from my dreams

The wind on my skin and rustle of trees

Tells me my truth has been seen

A chill through my flesh, my bones, being, and soul

Flows like a cool, calming, knowing embrace

I find my feet stuck, having reached their end goal

For a moment the ache in my heart’s been replaced

I Have A Thought

I have a thought that you might want to think⠀

With your brain, in your mind, where your thoughts have a rink

Where they skate round in circles, and they race in your head

Until you should write and replace what’s been said

⠀

With paper and pen, or typed on a key board

You can dribble your thoughts, or they’ll flow as a fiord

All while you watch as they morph into words

Deeply striking your heart at the most potent chords

⠀

Or you could speak your thoughts into the air

Like a mist you can spray toward the ones who would care

But if no one will listen, the mist will still glisten

And you can find rest at the race intermission

⠀

The rink becomes quiet, I think you should try it

Let out your thoughts, and let thoughts hang to dry yet

For if they should race far too long in small spaces

Your mind might grow tired, and heart may lose patience

Someday

Someday I'll look back on this moment, and what will i say?

I'll take a deep breath, close my eyes, and go back in time

Smile as I feel familiar sensations, creeping up my spine

Chills as I write, imagining the wisdom of my future self

And just like that, my mind is caught spinning an unending web

But what will I say?

⠀

You were young and still scared, naive and still kind

You worried about love, the whole world, and your mind

Your pain became strength, one you learned how to wield

You built a new life, a strong heart sans a shield

You opened a gate, turned the page of your book

You let out the hate, lured in love with a hook

⠀

And when your heart burst at the seams, overflown

Your love spread to the world, and a great truth was known:

⠀

Pain turned to strength, and fear into growing

Lets love filter in, where it will soon be flowing

A heart sans a shield, and a gate left wide open

Brings us together, with no words left unspoken

Hold Hope In Your Hands

Tune into your heart, watch while it grows

Hold hope in your hands, without letting go

Forget what's behind, and what lies ahead

Remember the beauty you still see instead

Your attention's intention cannot be defined

For it changes each moment and melds in your mind

What catches your eye, and implores a long stare

Might be a message about why you're there

Tune into the tingles that flow through your being

They'll tell you the truth of the reason you're seeing

An oversized heart, and hands holding tight

To an over-ripe hope, shining bright through the night

So the next time your attention is caught with a hook

Imploring a stop, and a slow second look

Look up, tune in, and feel what you will

Your heart always knows when it's time to be still.