A poem on the respiration of trees. — Arbor trees cycle with the seasons. Exhaling colorful leaves in exchange for a winter blanket. They sleep during crisp months nestled within the quiet night. Dreaming without sound while squirrels nibble at storage banquets. Ash hears Autumn’s first call to bed. She sheds off her cloths and breathes out Summer’s shared…

Protect yourself with boundaries, it's easy and yet the most difficult thing you will ever do. — The boundaries you hold can make you feel alone. A mother’s guilt breaks your resolve. A sister ignores issues involved. Friends hide secrets you will soon solve. Your words became weapons for them to throw. Brother laughs at the view of your change. Father continues to treat you the same. Friends fall away…

Working to live, while wanting to live for the work — I want it. The money isn’t there. I need it. The process ignites my soul. I dream of it. The ideas distract my reality. The passion for my craft feeds me with purpose. I plunder credit, hoping to stop feeling worthless. I need it. In order to hear my own voice. Finding…

A free-form poem on the progression of a sexual encounter. — Turn off your porn brain and get into bed. Stop imagining my mouth doing things in your head. Hold me, feel me, our bodies touch. Caressing a sensation, you turn our love rough. I remember a night filled with deviant power. Casting morning glory over pillars and flowers. My gentle kiss unleashed…

We mold the clay to challenge our perspective on the past — My life you don’t see. Hope’s stories I shared for my world to be seen. A moment of tenderness, I wait to receive. Your values and judgment are cast upon me. My place is forgotten. Living invisible, riding the stream, I tried to connect, you dismissed all my dreams. My…

Realizing conflict in my relationship made us grow. I wanted more. — I stayed awake, missing your face. Our break, a pain of all my mistakes. Your body gone, to abandon our space. In a spacious house with lavish taste. Our days apart, growing thin, I work distracted to no end. Partners play at imagining love, a romantic dance to a gentle song. Your…

My anxiety about ordering espresso is like being punched in the face when attempting to use coffee lingo. — I used to walk into a metal cage, wearing fight shorts, a black one once glove on each hand, a frightened boy inside, showing confidence to an opponent with a steel gaze. …

When we face off against driving emotions and regulating speed. — Jason Hamilton shifted down into third gear, swearing as his red Jeep Cherokee rushed up onto the tailgate of a Honda Civic. “This is a highway not a school zone,” he said, as he revved in anger, decelerating his Jeep into third gear. “Get over, get into the right lane,”…