Summer

What’s that word for

When time

Is unkept

Tangled and wily

When I never fail

To have a cold drink

In my hand

Or when sand

Becomes a sticky hitchhiker

That I learn to love

When my hair

Turns from a muddy blond

To silky gold

What’s the word for

Warm ice cream

And cold pizza

When my nails

Are forever

Changing colors

Along with my skin

From pale to dark to red

When the sun

Sticks around

For a few more hours

When home theaters

Are more populated

Than cinemas

When friends turn to BFFLADs

And life is taken seriously

What’s the word…

Summer 

2013

Not By Any Other Name

My name is strong

Solid


A blockade protecting me

Expressing me

It is harsh when it needs to be


But soft and comforting

In times of sorrow

A head-banging, loud, confident name

An easily whispered one


It flows and ripples until the end
and sizzles to a finish


It will jolt you like a knife in the back


When you know there's something wrong

Or brings tears to your eyes

If spoken like the name of a winner

It bites

It heals

It stands alone

My name is Alex

2013

Driving the Boat

The tranquil waters breathe

In and out

Ever so slightly rocking me

My mom and brother have surrendered

To the waves

They shared a love of land

While I had a constant need of movement

Waves

Movement

The sunset approached

with colorful fingers

Now my dad and I head back

The sky a cascading rainbow

Dipping its end into the water

Rippling as we glide

The engine is hardly necessary in these conditions

As calm as a puddle

We share the sea with no one

We soon reached the harbor

An even more silent body

In one moment

A moment no longer than a few seconds

My dad looked down and met my eyes

My young adventurous eyes

Pleading to be more than just a passenger

Without any further communication

He handed

Me

The wheel

I took a sudden breath in surprise

But it was drowned out

By the steady puffing of the seals.

The canines of the sea

Come up for air very rarely

Swirling the water with heavy breaths

But now

They surrounded the boat

As if to encourage me

As if to tell me that I could do it

I relaxed

Drummed my fingers on the wheel

And drove

 2013

My Inner Poet

My inner poet is the wind

Uncontrollably rolling and puffing out treasures

And picking up new ones

Wild, free

The unpredictability lurks in my writing

Will I be destructive or inspiring?

When a hurricane strikes

I am lost and confused

Swirling aimlessly

Lost

But on calm days

I am soft

An encouraging cool whisper

A free soul

Free to write what I feel

The wind will always be my inner poet

A part of my writing

A part of myself

I am wild

I am the wind

WIND

Whisping winds beat the sky

To numb the toes of passersby

Then goes to steal the hat on your head

And spins around and trips you instead

It screams sharply in your ear

And shrivels out your deepest fear

It nips every inch of bare skin

You play with it, it will always win

The wind will follow if you try to run

And makes you beg to feel the sun

The wind has escaped its binding shackles

It has lost control, you can tell by its cackle

The snicker of one with uncontrollable power

Impossible to contain inside any tower

It sculpts the earth it bends the air

It melts the trees without a care.

 2013