this isn't what we meant.

25/30 Hourglass

If I’m lucky enough to be

introduced to old age,

someday, my voice will be

a rusty hammer with no handle

and my hands will quake the way

any building does when it's

erected next to a train track.

I’ll be the fog that

clings to the mirror

after the kind of shower you

take when the days are long.

I’ll dissipate slowly.

If I’m lucky, this is

how the movie ends.

I’m not foolish enough

to ask God to put my

hourglass on its stomach.

I know all of this sand is

determined to reach the bottom,

but while I’m here,

I want to create something

that will last so long

it will look at my flesh

and laugh.

24/30 Thief

This body

is a glass house

that has swallowed

too many heirlooms.

Some days, I stare

at it in the mirror.

This is more stakeout

than admiration.

I am trying to find

new ways

to break

into myself.

23/30 Drive

Tell me a story

and let’s laugh like it’s the only

thing keeping us alive.

Play a song

and give the stereo

permission to use its

outside voice.

Let’s sing loudly,

off beat and out of tune.

Let the world know

we don’t care how it sounds

because the only key we need

is in the ignition.

Let’s just go.

Drive until our troubles

phantom in the rearview mirror

and we forget they exist,

at least

for a moment.

22/30 Daylight

Once,

death was just a distant relative

we only heard stories about.

Assumed if we avoided stray bullets,

we'd never stand face to face

with this member of our family.

We were the black box on the airplane.

A story made of Kevlar and steel.

Now,

we forget things

and our bones are beginning

to sound like the floorboards

of a house that isn't

worth remodeling.

Mortality is a sunset

in slow motion

and we have so much to do

while there is still daylight.

21/30 Full

“Yea, that’s my food.

You can have it.”

This is how I love.

I barter what I own

and exchange it

for your happiness,

hoping it’s enough

to make you full.

20/30 Speak

Most of my childhood,

I spoke with a stutter.

My mouth and mind

were 2 people

with no rhythm

trying to teach

each other how to dance.

I had to concentrate

to say the simplest things.

When there is struggle

in the veins of

every word,

you understand

that speaking is a

badge of honor

that some of us

have to fight for.

19/30 Birthmark

My skin

is a birthmark

I have learned

to wear proudly.

18/30 Venom

My biggest mistake

was pretending

you weren’t poison.

It’s easy to forget

even venom looks pretty

in good lighting.

17/30 Photograph

A man who doesn't feel

is just a photograph.

He’s an

immature Polaroid,

a thousand words

trapped in the belly

of a dead language.

16/30 Black Emoji

Today,

for the 1st time,