Writing for the Sake of Sanity and Self-Expression.

8.19.2002

frigid

it's surprisingly cold up here
i'm wearing three layers
no one knows who i really am.

they know my name
they know what i do
but all they really know
is what i tell them.

truth be told
i don't know who i am.
i don't know anyone who does.

does god?
sometimes i wonder about him.
he doesn't do many things often anymore.

it's so cold
my teeth chatter sometimes
and mumble incoherent pieces of misinformation.

i know these things won't matter in a while
but for right now
it matters so much
because it's so cold...

it's cold...
i'm freezing.

8.14.2002

goodbye

i'm leaving so many things behind.
i'm leaving my clothes
i'm leaving my cozy little room
i'm leaving my massive collection of books and papers
i'm leaving the comfort of my house
i'm leaving the swing
i'm leaving the computer
i'm leaving you.

i don't want to go.
i don't want to leave.
i don't want to feel this way.
i don't want to go without you.
i don't want to feel helpless like this.
i don't want to say goodbye.
i don't want to leave.
i don't want to cry.

sometimes
i wish i can just close my eyes
and when i open them again
i'll be back.
and you'll be there with me.
and we'll laugh
and we'll have fun
and we'll never leave each other's presence.
sometimes how i wish you were here.
i wish for so much.

we had some good times, didn't we?
i relive those
every time it gets too quiet.
i surround myself with images of you
i'm delusional
because i swear i could feel you right here
and smell your scent
and hear your voice.
i'd take you with me if i could.

thanks for listening and all your time.
i'm not worth as much as you think i am.
that's only as much as i can be.
goodbye, now.
goodbye.
i hope to see...
goodbye, now.
goodbye.

and tears up at the coffee shop
with dreams of being in a band
and music in his life.
goodbye.
i pray.
i pray now.
goodbye, now.
goodbye.

8.12.2002

the eye of the apple

one day, spring ended and ushered in
the glory of summer.
the fields were green
the hills were rolling
the sun was beaming
and the children were laughing.
in one of the orchards stood a lone
apple tree --
in the middle of the orchard
alone.
there were no other trees.
but the apple tree
bore the most fruit
the sweetest fruit in all the land.

one of the apples decided to
explore the world around her.
she made a leap of faith
onto one of the children passing by.

the apple fell from the tree
and could not decide in which hand she would go.
"the one on the right listens to me,
but my eye falls for the one on the left," she thought.
the child caught her in both.

of one person, two hands
but only one apple.
the left hand told the right hand to go back
into the pocket
as he told the right about
everything he felt about the apple.
the apple waited slowly as it ripened beautifully.
the right hand experienced ecstasy
and god forbid, love
when he held the apple but for mere moments.
the left hand wonders about the what-ifs and
the maybes and the would-haves.
that's all he can do now as he holds the apple.

the left despises himself for what he did.
the right was afraid to have fallen in love.
the apple is left untasted and waiting.
she waits and waits and waits
and waits some more.

they all want answers.
the answers are gone.

8.11.2002

thank you

why do i have to care for you so much?
maybe because i am scared as hell.
i'm too afraid to find out what happens
if i let go,
if i run away from here,
if i lose sight of this place,
if i never see you again.
will you hold my hand and help me through?
i'm scared.
you've done so much for me, you know.
i can never begin to begin to thank you enough
even though i've hurt you so goddamned much.
and still you forgive me
and smile
and laugh at my crazy antics
and care.
why do i always cry?
it's coming.
i'm gone in two days, you know.
i know you know how i really feel
even though i don't say much.
but when you look at me
but for that moment
but for every instance that you've paid attention
but for everything and nothing all at once --
you never hesitate.

sometimes i wish i could just
throw everything away
to know you're all right,
and you always say you are.
you never tell me these things.
most of the time i wish i could
just be normal, you know,
so you won't have to see me cringe in pain
or breathe short shallow breaths
gasp, trying, gasp, to, gasp
stay alive
pushing medicine through my bloodstream.
i care for you too much.

i have so much to say to you.
but the one thing we need the most, we don't have enough of
because it waits for no one.
the most i can do is pray
and hope to something, somewhere
that in the near future our paths will cross
again.
i will have much more to say then.
i will tell you.

the apple fell from the tree
and could not decide in which hand she would go.
the one on the right listens to me,
but my eye falls for the one on the left.
of one person, two hands
but only one apple.
the left hand told the right hand to go back
into the pocket
and told everything he felt about the apple.
the apple waited slowly as it ripened beautifully.
the right hand experienced ecstasy
and god forbid, love
when he held the apple but for mere moments.
the left hand wonders about the what-ifs and
the maybes and the would-haves.
that's all he can do now as he holds the apple.

just like the stone under the dreaming tree
i hope you'll come along with me.
we'll sleep to dream her many nights
and find that in our ephemeral delights
the life that we once used to live:
the one we would never have again.

thanks for listening and all your time.
i'm not worth as much as you think i am.
that's only as much as i can be.
goodbye, now.
goodbye.
i hope to see...
goodbye, now.
goodbye.

of the same person, two hands.
so similar yet innately different.
they match up when he prays.
he prays now.
goodbye, now.

and tears up at the coffee shop
with dreams of being in a band
and music in his life.
goodbye.

8.10.2002

beauty

can you find it in makeup
or magazine cutouts
or on tv shows
where everyone looks like a barbie doll
emaciated and dying?

i find it lies in you.

beauty is your middle name as you laugh
at my ridiculous jokes
or when you cry at my
outpouring of emotion.
is it real?

i find it once too true.

beauty is imperfection.

can you look past the designer jeans
or the expensive jewelry
or the catalogs that seem to
stare you in the face
with images of "perfection" and "high style"?

perfection is not real.

something is dastardly wrong with us all.
some of us are fat or sickly thin
some have frizzy hair
others have terrible skin.
i like imperfection.

beauty lies in you.

8.09.2002

courage

today i found out about courage.
how silent the enemy can be,
how unsuspecting all of us truly are:
and in that precise moment we find ourselves
weeping for what was and what is
and what it forever will be.
courage shows when you smile.

you smile like no one else does
because you brighten everyone's day with it.
you are the victim here --
should you be smiling?
the silence makes the rest of us ill
but you stifle the silence oh so well
with your relentless assault of music.

your fingers dance over the keys of the piano,
leaving traces of unbridled joy and passion:
a piece of your soul
ingrained forever in the notes
floating in the air,
catching our attention,
making us yours.

Spain flies with Open Arms
and cries for Tears in Heaven
as they stumble over Maple Leaf Rags
in a Caravan,
suffering from Narcolepsy,
remembering all too well Christmastime
and memories of Skating.

your hair bobbles
as you turn your head ever-so-nonchalantly
keeping time with the music
closing your eyes
feeling the beat
letting it all out without saying a single word.
i admire you so much.

the music lets you cry like you never have.
we never see the tears because
you are a proud individual,
too smart and too kind.
in the end we only see your radiant
smile
and it gives us courage.

we tell you to keep smiling
and to never forget
(as if we ever could)
and there you flash
trademark teeth
façade ineffable.
you have so much courage.

8.08.2002

what i believe

first and foremost i believe in myself
for without this belief i would not be.

i believe i can be what i want me to be,
a teacher, a student, a leader, a musician, a poet, a writer.

i believe in respecting others, be it their
beliefs or faiths or opinions or selves.

i believe in pop culture and culture itself.

i believe in the power of cheese,
that pork is the other white meat,
that Britney did it again,
that reading is fundamental, and
that Derek Zoolander can too turn left.

i believe in secrets and lies and fairy tales and the
misadventures of Harry Potter.

i believe in what people want me to believe.

i believe in truth, beauty, freedom, and
above all things,
love.

i believe in love and friendship and unity
and peace and brotherhood and happiness
and humanity because without these things life
is not worth living.

i believe in dark denim jeans,
in white short-sleeved cotton oxford shirts,
in plastic thin-framed glasses with ultraviolet protection,
in ankle-length athletic socks, and
in the fact that i will do my laundry once i can't wear these clothes anymore.

i believe in the power of human nature and curiosity.

i believe in many things, like rainbows and
great works of literature and Einstein's theory of relativity.

i believe in the world.