Each morning, I light a candle
for the versions of me I’ve outgrown—
the one who feared her own voice,
softened to fit into quiet rooms.

The one who built walls brick by brick,
guarding herself from possibility,
believing stillness meant safety.

But today,
I raise a glass
to the girl I once was.

I thank her
as I begin to unstack those bricks,
each one etched with a lesson,
Thanking her as I loosen the soil
beneath my becoming.

“untethered”

shelves of faces wheel past our names
we dissolve on blinking glass—
silent exits logged but never traced
by the circuits that once claimed us

our missteps vanish in tangled code,
no pardon queued;
the platform shrugs in empty bits,
leaving apologies half-typed and gone

perhaps erasure spills relief:
we unhook from worn-out errors,
drop the weight of old regrets
that bruised our shoulders for years

The driver inspects Elsie’s bus pass. Cracks a joke about keeping warm and closes the doors.
Elsie takes a seat to review today’s passengers. Each face carries its own exhaustion, except the man who sits beside her grinning.

‘You want a sweetie?’ she says and offers him a small rusty tin containing Werther’s Originals. He takes two, slowly unwraps the first and smiles.

‘At least the rain’s held off,’ he says chewing the second sweet.
‘When you’ve lived as long as I have, rain’s a blessing,’ Elsie says.

Sometimes, when I see a full moon
hanging close in the evening,
after it's conquest of the day,

I think of the unfortunate time
it had a wayward rocket lodged in its eye;

as documented in the film,
A Trip to the Moon.
Luckily, it seems to have healed nicely

and forgiven the fools inside
when I look there.

If the soft passing breeze could say,
If the wandering wind could share a tale
What do you dream it's dying to share?
Maybe, the thrill of blowing at some pirate's sail,
The grandeur of mountains most serene
Stretching high, proud, and pale,
Or beast's wings never before seen,
Groping at some far-off virgin sky
Untouched by humanity's lusty eye.

As twilight creeps in once again,
I wince at recurrence of my pain.
Like a fire that burns the night,
And sleep goes into night- time fight.

In the presence of such gloom
Searing pain consumes like doom.
As darkness comes, blocks out light,
My strength is gone, to win that fight.

Zapped by forces I did not choose,
No energy, I am doomed to lose.
My internal enemy has me beat,
Surrender would be to admit defeat.

A man forces a woman into a seat by the window.
Neither of them speak. Her hand covers her black eye.
He puts his arm though hers and pulls her closer. His grip isn’t warm.
She leans into him; his hold says possession.
Her hair covers bruises, not the tears.

A man behind them rubs the kiss his wife gave him this morning from his face.
A face that shines, soaped and shaved. His lies tingling like aftershave.
He slides the wedding ring off his finger and into his pocket.

I love the way you look at me.
Like you could almost love me.
That faint whisper of a smile, and
Your stare that seems to have no end.
Swindling eons from my mortal life,
My heart and mind in mortal strife,
Like you will never let me be.
Oh, I love the way you look at me.

Look at me
with those eyes
watch my tears
burn holes through my skin.
Grab at the bones
that are my waist,
pull this frail girl
towards your warmth
feel her kiss your face.
Listen for the praises
I whimper in your name.
I don’t believe in god
but for you i’ll pray
to cease
your pain.
The feeble girl I am,
the brittle bones you hold
the frangible fragments of my mind
you treat like gold.
The daughter of anger,
the son of anguish
the pain they each suffer

Somewhere deep in the keep of your heart
a hidden chamber
you kept your love locked away
seldom letting it out to play

Every morning I wake with a song in my head
words and music
reminding me of things we did and said
before you went away

Reflections on the water
reflections in my mind
can’t yet fathom what’s in front of me
but see what’s been left behind

Dusk has settled in
the wind has become a gentle breeze
pondering the times we had together
and all the love so sweet