Appreciate

it is important 
to stand under a night sky
shirtless  
so exposed skin 
can appreciate 
hands
that drive machines
that pick 
the cotton 
of your 
new jacket. 

it is important 
to drink yourself sick 
so liver 
can appreciate 
sweet tasting blood 
that flows 
on the expressway 
from a brain 
to a heart

it is important 
to love with ears 
so eyes 
can appreciate 
what they have 
in front of them 

it is important 

to walk with
feet bare
on crushed rocks 

so heels can truly 

appreciate

the grass

January, Stop Being Smitten

January,
stop being smitten
you're not suppose to smell like May
In fact, your breath wreaked
of frothy pines only yesterday

Your hair,
swept back with the blistering gales
palms peeled & cracked
your knuckles bruised pale

There is no time,
to go around parading and pretending
that your time is up
your parole is ending

The Tree & I,
we are sisters you see
we both are never made a fool
tomorrow your sky will blow gray
and we will again taste the hollowness of cool.

Nobody Found Anything By Being Sure

I am passionately in love with good parts...

 and bad parts.

 don't tell my parents, I am the adventure. 

the world? 

she is so so bad, yet so so good.
 my biggest role model yet.
 see all of it. meet everybody. 
you need to through yourself out-- tastefully.
 if you want to walk barefoot, for chrissakes walk barefoot.

 you, yes, you,

 are apart of this vast and ever changing
 landscape.

 ask questions, ask so many questions. but don't. people differ, like the plants, like the colors.
 know that.
 be your own question. try everything once,
 at least once.
 maybe twice if it tickles.

 be bad, but mainly, do good.

 believe in the time you have, in the people who love you. if nobody loves you, love yourself.
 all they want is your money,
 or your love
so no need to be getting uncomfortable.
 squeeze the sweet sweet juice out of every situation that betters you, another human being, or the environment in which you escape.

don't show them what you're all about, be what you're all about.

 if you simply smile, you hold all the cards. nobody found anything by being sure. 

nineteen

 A boy
 I'd never met
 told me

 he liked the way

 my eyes looked

 when I smiled

I asked him if he wanted to run away

Lobsterman Hands

red skies sailors take warning

but fishin' boats leave the docks by morning

they know that the wind is their boss

and the sea she'll turn and toss

I will always respect a man with lobsterman hands

no business suits or clocks to punch

vacation days, sick days, or lunch

if you want yourself a pay raise

the tides don't take no mercy or praise

I will always respect a man with lobsterman hands

there are men who make millions with their minds

pull a few strings, tell a few cheap lies

the only way a fisherman gets rich

is if his daughter gives him a good luck kiss

I will always love a man with lobsterman hands

callused palms don't have the softest touch

but simple folk we don't need much

and when this world comes crashing down

I know the type of hands I'll wanna have around

I will always respect a man with lobsterman hands