We live in a time

Where we can travel around the world

Before the world can travel around the sun.

My life is made of footprints

That are unsure of what they’re running from or towards.

I’ve learned to leave things the way they are

And never stay long enough to let the dust settle.

Sometimes I’ll end up in the middle of nowhere

Confronted by a deafening silence

That reminds me

Solitude is where the soul speaks.

Solitude can become a ghost

That creates a chase out of things that are behind you.

A bickering shadow that gets closer depending on which way you turn.

One time, it followed me on stage and shook my voice

Until I dropped the poem.

I watched the shattered pieces scatter into the front row

And realized my loneliness now had an audience.

My passions are telescopes or magnifying glasses,

They can either help me see the lengths I’m willing to go

Or understand the value of things within reach.

This selfish exploration has led me to believe

That one of the greatest phenomena of human kind

Is how one can be surrounded by others, and still feel alone.

I can’t count the number of rivers I’ve run into

That had never even heard of the ocean.

So many limber trees rocking like ticketed passengers

Waiting in line so long they’ve become bystanders to their own journey.

I have also poured hope into the hands of a clock

To scrub away the sorrow,

Only to mistake patience for stillness

Once I smelled the rotting part of me that died

and I couldn’t cast away.

It’s a known fact

That time heals all wounds

But then again I heard that severed limbs don’t grow back

So I chose a new perspective

By looking through all the holes cupid left behind.

It’s funny how our past, present, and future become jealous siblings

And their arguments can last an eternity!

But there is nothing more powerful than now.

Nothing more fulfilling than now.

The shared breath of a life being lived.

The oxygen that offers help without asking for recognition.

The earth that keeps spinning

Even though it knows it’ll always have a dark side.

One of the greatest phenomena of humankind

Is how one can find belonging within solitude,

To feel connected to every shift in the wind,

Things don’t have to be human in order to listen to them.

Every morning should feel like the first time a glacier is kissed by the sun

And each night should be filled with the gratitude of a funeral.

I know how difficult it is

To look someone in the eyes

When you don’t feel connected to your own breath.

I know how lonely it is

To feel out of place

And out of orbit

Like an asteroid

Or an asterisk

Yet somehow

You still gain the momentum to look towards the light

and know

that you are still

In the middle

Of somewhere.