In the Pen Volume 1: #31: Ripe

In the Pen Volume 1: #31: Ripe

Moments in life
Are mostly just that
Most moments
Will bow to the relative scope
Of a life lived

With time and moments
A budding sprout
Can become a ripe fruit
Full of life
Despite what tried to end them early

In the Pen Volume 1: #30: Catch

In the Pen Volume 1: #30: Catch

With arms stretched out
Palms open
Fingers extended

He must bring it home
He must rise to this challenge
He must make the catch

In the Pen Volume 1: #29: Injured

In the Pen Volume 1: #29: Injured

No matter the time
No matter the patience
You carry the pain with you

Broken bones and bleeding skin
Once healed
Leave permanent scars

Once injured
Forever cautious

In the Pen Volume 1: #28: Ride

In the Pen Volume 1: #28: Ride

Each one has
A beginning
An end
And everything in between

Appreciate where they begin
Live in the in between
And cherish the triumph at the end

In the Pen Volume 1: #27: Coat

In the Pen Volume 1: #27: Coat

Here
You can have mine

I look forward
To seeing you again

Bring it with you
And we can take another walk

Together

In the Pen Volume 1: #26: Dark

In the Pen Volume 1: #26: Dark

Here we are
Near the end of this journey
This desperate clawing
Back towards the light

For what feels like forever
Even though it simply couldn't be
I have lost the light
The light I need

In this darkness
I can find at least one thing
The helping hands of those
That will always dive into the darkness

They dive and dig
Claw and scream
Love and support
And save me from the darkness

In the Pen Volume 1: #25: Tasty

In the Pen Volume 1: #25: Tasty

Made by hands
That hold my heart

Blessed by love
And made with care

Nothing beats
The taste of home

In the Pen Volume 1: #24: Dizzy

In the Pen Volume 1: #24: Dizzy

Plunging to my lowest
Dragged back to the middle
Shoved back to the bottom
Launched to the top
Balancing upon a precarious point
The next gentle breeze
Is all it takes
To put an end to the high
Life measured
By the number of crises
And their frequency
Hoping that at some point in life
Things won't be so dizzy

In the Pen Volume 1: #23: Ancient

In the Pen Volume 1: #23: Ancient

What you're doing right now
Yes, you
Yes, right now

This is as old as time
This ballet your eyes perform
This journey your mind takes
This odyssey your soul lives

Yes, all of that
All right now

This is you
And these words

Connecting in the oldest way possible

In the Pen Volume 1: #22: Ghost

In the Pen Volume 1: #22: Ghost

Boo!
Trying to be scary

Wooooooo...
Trying to be spooky

Bwahahahaha!
Trying to be downright frightening

Perhaps those scary, spooky ghosts
Are just doing their best?

In the Pen Volume 1: #21: Treasure

In the Pen Volume 1: #21: Treasure

Life is not cheap
It is the first
And the last
Precious treasure

Of course there will be times
When we lose sight
Of the glimmer and shine
Sometimes lost beneath a crushing lid

Sometimes someone else
Must find you
Your map and key
And sometimes, no one is on their way

Sometimes, you'll have to lift the lid
Of your own shrinking coffin
And face the new day on your own
And sometimes, lifting the lid wont seem worth it

Telling you that you are a treasure
Is not enough
Listening to your silencing voice
Is not enough

So I ask you
Please keep a small piece of treasure
Forever nearby
Shape it into your map and key

In the Pen Volume 1: #20: Tread

In the Pen Volume 1: #20: Tread

Tread softly
While wearing ankle weights
Across a shattered glass floor

Tread lightly
While dancing
In quicksand

Tread delicately
When leaving behind your steps
A path to be followed

In the Pen Volume 1: #19: Sling

In the Pen Volume 1: #19: Sling

You will not find my footprints
On the front lines of the battlefield
You may find paw prints
But never my footprints

Connected to the natural beauty around me
I keep my distance from threats
Knocking them in their bucket heads
And they tumble over their garb
Of decimated earth

If I must
I will
Represent these animals
Of the forest

Dressed not in their skins
But enveloped in their form
Granted their strength and ferocity
The power of their instincts

I am the druid

In the Pen Volume 1: #18: Misfit

In the Pen Volume 1: #18: Misfit

My fit doesn't quite fit
I often miss
Miss the mark meant for fitting in
Missing my chance to be a fit

Not fit to serve
Not fit to speak
Not fit to love
Not fit to live

These misfit monologue mind mines
Make it hard to carve the right piece

In the Pen Volume 1: #17: Ornament

In the Pen Volume 1: #17: Ornament

Christmas often arrives
Much too early
Before there is time
For the first flurry

Green and red and white
Taking over the landscape
Orange and brown and black
Forgotten until it's too late

Take the time
To appreciate today
Give each special memory
Its own special day

In the Pen Volume 1: #16: Wild

In the Pen Volume 1: #16: Wild

Unleash in me
The need to choose
Predator or prey
A choice to survive
Or to sustain

I shall kneel as prey
Meek, sorrowful prey
Devoured by the stronger
Serving my purpose as the weaker

In the Pen Volume 1: #15: Legend

In the Pen Volume 1: #15: Legend

Mythos made of blood and steel
Standing triumphant above the others
Staying true amidst the trials
Perhaps we honor these legends
Because they are everything
We cannot be
We are not legends
We are barely memories
And with time
We aren't even that

In the Pen Volume 1: #14: Overgrown

In the Pen Volume 1: #14: Overgrown

Word association is a funny thing
I hear overgrown
And my first thought is: my height
My second thought is: weeds
And my third thought is: my anxiety

In the Pen Volume 1: #13: Ash

In the Pen Volume 1: #13: Ash

A fitting end
For a life engulfed
In the flames
Of trial and tribulation

In the Pen Volume 1: #12: Dragon

In the Pen Volume 1: #12: Dragon

A monster, demon, calamity
A deity, divine, omnipotent
A legend, myth, story

This fascination
With a creature
Who never once flew
And never once breathed fire

What a wild dream
To find a fantasy in ferocity
A crazy conclusion
To find inspiration in their grandness

To dream of dragons

In the Pen Volume 1: #11: Snow

In the Pen Volume 1: #11: Snow

They say a writer
Should write what they know
Seeing as I'm from Southern California
I know nothing of snow

In the Pen Volume 1: #10: Pattern

In the Pen Volume 1: #10: Pattern

"Things get better."
Which means it must first be worse

"Move on."
Which means one must walk with scars

"Tomorrow's another day."
Which means today was a loss

"Don't forget who you are."
Which means the real me retreats when needed most

Up and down
Back and forth

A life made of the next challenge
Before the next breather
Before the next challenge

Eventually

There will come the final challenge

A permanent end to the cycle

In the Pen Volume 1: #9: Swing

In the Pen Volume 1: #9: Swing

I used to think
My greatest challenge
Was to find the courage to launch myself
At the highest height
Of the swinging swing

The true challenge
Is facing the reality
That you may have to search
Far and wide
For a place to land
On your feet
In a world set
On devouring you

In the Pen Volume 1: #8: Frail

In the Pen Volume 1: #8: Frail

An entire life discarded
By a lie regarded
As truth

A mind left shattered
When all that mattered
Was taken away

A heart left empty
By a hopeless treaty
Between death and despair

An ending made inevitable
By true pain untreatable
And its unending presence

Farewell to it all
An embracing of the fall
Another casualty of human frailty

In the Pen Volume 1: #7: Enchanted

In the Pen Volume 1: #7: Enchanted

A life lived
A thousand times over
And a thousand times again

Each new adventure beginning
Within the magic of the story

I have lived a life enchanted
One filled with stories counted
Among the pages I've wanted

Against challenges unending
An escape lays waiting
To a world unending

The magical mystery
Of the written word
Shall forever leave me
More than I was before

More than I could
Have ever been without

In the Pen Volume 1: #6: Husky

In the Pen Volume 1: #6: Husky

I can hear the howl
Piercing through the moonlit sky
Singing into my ears
An instinctual, beautiful cry
A call of the wild
Bringing proud music
To the silent night

In the Pen Volume 1: #5: Build

In the Pen Volume 1: #5: Build

With fury
With rage
With a pain unleashed

Shotgun blasts
Of anxiety
Of fear
Of never-ending scars

This is destruction

With help
With love
With a pain shared

Pinpoint potions
Of health
Of energy
Of community

This is how you build

In the Pen Volume 1: #4: Freeze

In the Pen Volume 1: #4: Freeze

Freeze within the frame
A memory everlasting
A dream never lost
A hope forever hopeful
Take with you
Your history preserved
Not on your phone
But in your heart

In the Pen Volume 1: #3: Bait

In the Pen Volume 1: #3: Bait

Hand-carved carnivore
Laying in wait
For hands gloved
In leather
In chain mail
In plates of steel
Both bait and trap
Is this beautiful gift
Dressed up fancy
To disguise its lethality

In the Pen Volume 1: #2: Mindless

In the Pen Volume 1: #2: Mindless

Number One
Bubble A

Number Two
Bubble A

Number Three
Bubble A

Number Four Thousand Two Hundred Seventeen
Bubble A

Some day the students
We tried to zombify
Will save the next generation
From the broken promises

In the Pen Volume 1: #1: Ring

In the Pen Volume 1: #1: Ring

With this ring
I thee wed

With these vows
I thee promise

With my heart
I thee love

With my life
I thee live

I live for you
I live for your love
I live for our future