All Together Now! Summer Reading at Johnson County Library is happening now through July 29.
Somehow, I pull the words out of my mouth like the colorful scarves inside the sleeve of an amateur magician
And we are both trying so hard
To save our best magic trick to use on ourselves
So that everyone can stop asking so much of us
Once, before the people moved in,
before they took my brothers
and sisters
and cousins
and friends,
I saw the sun.
I grew up
and I grew strong,
trying to reach the sky.
I meant to make
the world beautiful,
but I was robbed
I look at them around me
Those who with my choices disagree
My eyes drop
They’re staring
Quickly judging what they see.
Alone am I to every degree
I never use the pronoun “we”
I’m different
Too different
Locked out without a key,
Being young is hard;
often feeling all alone.
Your hair is a mess
and your face is
breaking out.
Being young is hard.
You aren’t quite sure of your friends,
you’re stressed out;
don’t know if you’re being “cool”.
Hallo there boy
You're just a child
Play on the fluffy cloud
In the air.
Think of nothing.
Until you fall
Fall a man
Live a man
Die a man
The Ponderosa Pines hunched ponderously,
Their convoluted gestures frozen
With dry, rasping limbs in stages of vexation
And narrow forearms lifted high
In savored moments of exalted epiphany.
My brother and I climbed the questions
They grew,
I found myself
staring out of my bedroom
window,
my eyes followed the footsteps
of the strangers walking below me.