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