GHOSTS BARELY

maybe you are seeing
something we're not

seeing: what redeems
anything?

we are all still
reeling
from the news
of your decaying;

and yet
you go on

hoping

while we become
ghosts barely capable
of coping.

GIRLS RULE

if i want to
start something

it takes days
and words
and you
feeling good
about you.

if you ever want to
start anything
it takes place

because you
maybe
only
on accident

touched me.

SHELTERED

someday you will
be old -- don't
think about it;

you won't

remember what you were

told; and you'll know

we loved you not
by what you were

taught; but by what you
never knew or even gave
a thought to.

YOU WON'T FIND IT IN BOOKS

books rot and
writing divides,
requiring us to
take sides --

interpretation
versus
meditation --

declaring "what is"
where once
wonder was
enough,
as in
"is what?"

life is
harder than
we thought.