middle school

in my mind i execute
tasks with grace and fervor.
in my mind i dictate
decisions and opinions.
in my mind i manipulate
and i question
and i steal.

i suffer all the consequences i administer.

in my mind i am my only tenant.
i am the queen,
the president,
the government,
the people.

i do not share jurisdiction.

i oversee and judge.
i embrace and indulge.
i forbid and deny.
i am the only one here.

in my mind
i am the audience
the conductor,
and the performer.

i am the guest and the host.

i am my only tenant.

my eyes may not agree with my ears,
and my heart and my head wrestle endlessly
i am the only referee.

i have requested roommates,
but they have their own minds in which they
execute, dictate, manipulate, question, or steal.
minds in which they suffer the consequences they administer.

but sometimes
i visit the tip of my tongue to wave 'hello, would you like to hear what i have to say?'

unknown desires

my desires are not unmet.
they are unknown.
in the desert regions of my body
where i excavate for clues
to answers
to existential crises
i met with diamonds in the rough
i do not have the technology
to collect or
to polish.

i am afraid i will always have parts of me
unknown.
but i am not loathe to recruit help.
i should welcome another's hands
working alongside mine.

i am willing to trade secrets.

silhouettes

the boy with the bike and the girl with the book.

a dog accompanied the boy.

a scarf adorned the girl's neck.

he saw her face;

she did not see his.

two silhouettes under dim street lights

walking/biking together

hands busy with exercise and knowledge-

empty of another's grasp.

separated at the corner

never again to see the other's shadow.

the boy with the bike and the girl with the book

the dog that should've tugged at her scarf

so that the boy would fall over his bike

running to apologize to the girl

whose shadow he could see another time

perhaps under daylight

at a sweet lunch set for two.