poetry found me
in the middle of a lonely night
not as a storm breaking
but as a breath
I didn’t know I was holding

it slipped between the noise
named things I had only felt
as shadows pressing
against my ribs

before it
I lived in fragments
untranslated days
nights that spoke in static

then came the lines
breaking me open
without breaking me
teaching my tongue
the shape of truth

now I walk differently
listening for the music
in ordinary air
carrying whole worlds
in the small space of a sentence

poetry did not change the world
but
it changed the way I belong to it

your words
are in all the right places
like constellations
stitched carefully
into my dark
each syllable lands
with quiet precision
softly
finding spaces in me
I didn’t know
were waiting

This is a collab I did with one of my best friends, Christopher, over at https://philosophicalqualms.wordpress.com/. We actually started this about 2 ½ years ago and are finally getting around to publishing it!

Christopher, thank you again for writing with me. This was such an honor, and I’m looking forward to more! Stay beautiful and keep sharing your love with the world! I need it along with everyone else!

her eyes sparkle
when colliding with mine
when I touched her hand
she twirled and danced
just for me of all beings
inside the winds
of summertime
her feet dancing
upon the grains of sand
each movement captures
her beautiful body
gliding in the breeze
while the ocean waves
capture this frame
upon our delightful souls
as I look into her eyes
time is no longer brief
only endless streams
just for a mere moment
I felt the feeling of forever
when you said
happy ever after

I’ve wished for you 
on shooting stars before
whispering my longing
into the night’s breath
hoping the streak of light 
would carry my thoughts 
across the infinite dark
each one a secret
each one a silent prayer
spinning through the cosmos
a promise
of more than this moment

and though the stars 
vanish before my eyes
I hold their shimmer
hoping it lingers
somewhere
out there
waiting for your reply

you are the chapter
I always return to
the page folded down
soft at the corner
worn from all the times
I needed to feel you again

in the book of my life
you are the part that breathes
where the words slow down
and the world feels
like it might be enough

the ink of you lingers
not bold or loud
just steady and true

I could turn a thousand pages
wander through whole volumes
but still
I keep your place marked

because even if the story continues
even if the plot twists
you are the chapter
that taught me
how to feel the words

Don’t edit yourself just to make someone else comfortable.

So many of us move through life trimming our words, softening our edges, dimming parts of ourselves so we fit more easily into someone else’s expectations. We delete the sentences that feel too honest. We hide the emotions that might be “too much.” We rewrite our personalities in quiet ways just to avoid rejection.

But a life spent editing yourself is a life spent slowly disappearing.

The right people will not need a watered-down version of you. They won’t require you to shrink your thoughts, mute your voice, or smooth over the parts that make you different. Real connection happens when you show up unfiltered, when your laughter is loud, your opinions are yours, and your truth isn’t carefully rearranged for approval.

You are not a draft waiting for someone else’s edits.

You are the final version.

I can feel your script
unfolding beneath my skin
slow
deliberate
as if my body
was always meant
to hold these lines

each word
pressing deeper
than language
until what you write
is no longer separate
from what I am

and the page of me
gives in
becoming
the shape of your story