I should eat more fruit and swallow the pits
run down the halls of fame and recognize myself
when my chance to run wild was woven, when my glass was more than half full
when i smiled because i died and understood deeply that my rebirth was ahead of me
clear
and not like a class room hour
not like the lights that have nothing to do with the Sun
Or the buildings that hold us like cages
But more like when you hear the faithful tears and sweat that a poet has chosen
that bring you into a moment where they meet you in their voice
I want to be where doves fly
I want to know where they go between here and where they land
with white hearts they use their feathers to speak
I want to be the air that touches them
I want green leaves to grow on me and pull their pigment into my soul
I want to eat from the sun and leave the vegetables alone
when i counted down my top twenty songs I made a list that took back
everything
that wiped my slate clean and i became a mirror
when i stood in front of you you understood yourself
you saw your decline, and then i saw mine
you sunk like a soldier
you cried like you lost a child
you lost your body in the wind and smiled like vapor
You decided to let yourself go
but you didn’t gain weight
You grabbed your package of choices and opened them one by one
when you saw that your purpose was to know yourself
you knew for certain that love was on your side
when it hit you like fingers hitting the keys of an out of tune piano
you knew you were out of tune, you knew you had room to grow
with all of this you still had bills to pay, a child to feed, a job to hate, a car to wash, a tv program, dishes to do, people to hate, anxieties to have, doctors to see, opinions to uphold, and wars to wage
most of all you knew you still had the duty of growing old
just then you threw yourself onto an open flame and wallpapered the inside of your soul with posters from your teenage years to remind yourself that
you are this and you are that
That all the things you ever dreamed of doing when you were a child, you’ve already done
that happiness is temporary
that chocolate is good, and advertisement was the invention of evil
when all this became too heavy you set in on the golden arches of letting go
and no one said to you
deal or no deal,
your fired,
thats hot,
or final answer?
No one said pick it back up put in on your shoulders
it left you it was gone, and you were lighter
you held it like a weight lifter, you ran like a champ
you jumped like a child on the bed
you sang like a sparrow in an unpolluted world
and a second chance was what you now knew
you looked around at the empty emptiness and rolled around in space
you took your time
you had a nap
you laughed alot, and danced til it hurt
and you forgot i was watching
A Poem by Lisa Sikes