Pretty, Pretty Girl

Pretty, Pretty Girl

There is no solution
In the falsified imagery
No liberation
In the behind-the-lens secrecy

And yet you are shoved
Behind an image

Images and imaginations

If only they could see
That I love you
For who you are
And who you'll be

One day they'll know
The beauty found solely
Within your soul

There is so much more for you to be
Than be defined by such a word as "pretty"

Pretty, pretty girl
You open the magazine
Turn on the TV
And are told
That you better be pretty

Pretty smile
Pretty hair
Pretty dress
Pretty everywhere
On the surface

But what that cover story won't say
What the networks won't show
Is that you're pretty strong
Pretty smart
Pretty bold

In fact, you are by no small measure these things

If they would demand
A calm, empty smile on the surface
It is because they fear
The mighty ocean that lies beneath

Now if only they could understand
Not to fear
But to embrace the magnificence
Of your potential

For my Mother
For my Sister
For my Grandmothers
For my Aunts, Cousins, and Nieces

For my friends
And for every one of my female students
Who felt wrongfully defined by your physical appearance
For what it's worth, I love you all.

Defying Gravity

Defying Gravity

I feel the pull of gravity
Upon my heart
And it is not heavy
No, it is uplifting

Once I find the one
That can make me fall up
All the way to cloud nine
All the way to the once unobtainable

I will know
That the pull on my heart
Was never gravity to begin with
It was love pulling me away

From all the things
Every single thing that once weighed me down

Her Promise

Her Promise

Do you this day
Open your heart?

Do you open your heart
To this gift?

This gift from her heart,
She offers with faith.

A faith far greater
Than ever felt before.

Never before has her heart swollen so full.
Never before has her world been so frightening.

And yet she stands,
Not upon her legs,
But upon her faith.

Her faith is an oath.
Her faith is true love.
All she is
Is now and forever for you.

So, I ask again:
Do you open your heart this day
And forever after?

His Promise

His Promise

Do you this day
Open your heart?

Do you open your heart
To this gift?

This gift from his heart,
He offers with hope.

A hope far greater
Than ever felt before.

Never before has his heart raced so fast.
Never before has his world been so still.

And yet he stands,
Not upon his legs,
But upon his hope.

His hope is a promise.
His hope is devotion.
All he is
Is now and forever for you.

So, I ask again:
Do you open your heart this day
And forever after?

An Epic Day of Sincerest Celebration

An Epic Day of Sincerest Celebration

On this special day
Not so long ago
A precious baby girl
Came screaming into this world

And ever since
The world has taken notice
Of this baby's cry
This young woman's spirit.

The world was changed
For the better that day
And her serenade
Is only just beginning

This is a poem, yes
But her's is an epic
And with time
She will cry out for this world

It will listen
It will learn
And thanks to her
It will change for the better

Voices

Voices

I have but one voice
In my heart
With which to speak the truth.

And a storm of voices
In my mind
That would silence that truth.

For the Kids From Destiny Islands

For the Kids From Destiny Islands

In the darkness
There is light
To be unleashed
By souls so brave, so true
That the key unlocks the heroes within

With the light within unleashed
The Keymasters traverse existence
And everything in between
Shining their light upon the darkness
That would engulf all it could consume

Everything would be lost
To this darkness
If not for the souls
Of pure light
At the very center of each world

With the key
And with valor, wisdom, and allies beside
The wielder of the key,
Worlds will be saved
And the light will reignite the bonds

Bonds of love and loss
Bonds of friendship and fear
Bonds of willpower and worry
Bonds of past, present, and future
Brought back together with the key

It will be an odyssey
Of pain and sacrifice,
But of growth.
The key will forever be needed
And a wielder's dedication to bear it.

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Seven

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Seven

Caps and gowns
Prom kings and class clowns
A bitter-sweet commencement
A contradictory bereavement
Congradulations

Future game changers
Not just a new cast of players
Some will always be in school
Some are just way too cool.
The strings have been cut

Doors have been opened
Destinations chosen
For some, loved ones hug
For others, people just shrug
Sniffling through the tears

Stay in touch, please
Don't be so apathetic about the release
Of old friends, turned to memory
Of old memories, made of sincerity
Inevitability

We worked so hard
Boats against the current
And yet we crouch down
At the starting line
Chasing our green light

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Six

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Six

Despite the weight
The constant, crushing weight
With growing chasm
Beneath the stubs we once
Called feet

Despite the fact
That I fell
So far, so deep, so hard
I came back
Like so many of us do

It is assumed most of us
Can't
We're apparently weak, apathetic,
Just because we just
Don't know

But we fight
We claw, scrape, and scream
We cry on shoulders
We raise with our hands
Instead of investing in the ignorance

We have our enemies without
And more within
But the good among us
Won't quit
We have another chasm to cross

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Five

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Five

Those four years
Feel like the only four
That can flash
Yet stand perfectly still.
It all just meshes together

The challenge
Is to find your present
When everyone is telling you
To plan out your future
Splitting yourself across time

Because of our sheer numbers
And an overwhelmed system
Many are left lost
In the green screen sea of digits
Who could begin to understand every story

But that's what we are
Stories,
Not equations,
Left unfinished
Yet shut closed

We were told to turn
The page
A new life
Built on fading memories
Replaced by new things to forget

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Four

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Four

School colors, mascots, and college prep
You've got four years
They said
Four years
To get it right

Not fair, I thought
Not enough time, I insisted
Not possible, I felt
How can my childhood
Already be over, I questioned

I'm not a child
But I'm not an adult
My mind fractures
Heart breaks
I scrape through the pieces, looking for my future

Play ball, study, and be a friend
Calculate, postulate, and analyze
Read, write, listen, and speak
Do all these things
And still find time to discover who you are

In what do I find
The willpower to go on
Who places the emerald light
Upon my shaking finger
When I'm lost in fear

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Three

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Three

Everyone's favorite subject
Is either recess
Or lunch
I prefer dodgeball
And pizza

Counting up from one
To five
I had hoped
To keep playing dodgeball
And eating pizza

But then it wasn't
About having fun anymore
You're growing
They said
Changing

It's a phase
They said
But no one told me
That I would go through
Temporary insanity

It's a crazy time in your life
They said without knowing
Just how right they were
Have to survive
Have to make it to the next step on the path

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Two

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto Two

I'm surrounded by them
They're my size
They sound like me
Some of them are little versions
Of my mom

It's confusing, but now I know
There are boys like me and Dad
And there are girls, like Mom
But more importantly,
We little ones are kids

Being a kid is awesome
Cartoons, crayons, and playtime
No smartphones, no twitter, and no facebook
You have only one goal
Be crazy and have fun

I thought that this was forever
And then I went to school
I wasn't scared
But it was different...
In a good way

Making friends for life
Without having the foggiest idea
As to what that really meant
I'm glad that's how it starts
There's hope in childhood

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto One

My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans - Canto One

At first
I can't so much as crawl
My baby belly
Fun to rest on, but no good
For moving forward

Then I perch myself
Upon the palms of my hands
And the pudgy knots
I don't yet know
Are called knees

The ungated rooms
Of this giant place
Are mine to explore
Mine to devour
As I giggle through my drool

The big ones
Show so much excitement
When the palms of my hands
Are replaced
By the soles of my feet

Their baby boy
Is growing up so fast
Even though
I'm no taller than the horsey
At least, not yet

Autobiography

So, I decided a while back to try and put my life, up to this point, into the form of a poem.  I'm seven cantos in and will be posting them momentarily.  I decided this was a good point to post, so that I could reflect on what I already have before moving forward.  You see, canto seven is the end of high school and before I start diving into those college years, I want to experience my own story as a reader; I want to take the chance to see what it is I've built for my story as a foundation for what's to come.  Also, since I haven't been out of college for very long I didn't want to try and trudge through such fresh memories without taking a hard look at what came before them.  I'd like to weave a connection from the farther past to the more recent past, and then hopefully into my present and future.  I hope you enjoy my autobiographical poem:  My Path Runs Ahead of Me and My Plans

No Relation to the Relative

No Relation to the Relative

Am I just a pinpoint pensman
Weaving fabricated feelings
To hit the mark
At the very center of the heart?

Am I just letting loose
Wistful emotions
To hide from the truth
At the very center of the balance?

Am I the ignorant one
Using merciful metaphors
To describe a merciless world
At the very center of what's real?

Truth is relative
And with this pen
I feel no relation