Between the Lines

I love it when poets and authors get horny,
They talk about love and affection in a whole new way.
If it were on TV my mom would make me turn
the channel due to the inappropriate innuendos.
But if it's only words on a page, then that's okay,
that's just how those poets are,
always speaking their mind and such.
They figure out how to say what all of us are thinking.
Make you truly feel it when there is a touch
between the pen and paper, and each other.
It might be a surprising moment when I,
child of a southern Baptist preacher whom cringes
at the thought of public displays of affection,
say that I am not sex-crazed like the world expects.
I was raised, after all, to keep my ankles locked
and my mouthy opinion quietly to myself. 
But in a flip to the other side of the two-faced coin
I, just as much as the next, feel the need for intimacy
in even just a pure, public kiss on the cheek,
or in the excitement to quickly turn another page,
but even then, it's just a craving.

Sept. 2015

Twenty

It’s impossible to be original in this town, 

Everything has already been written down, 

Yes the majority of my life in fact is a mess, 

But finding yourself takes an act of congress, 

Everyone around me has it all figured out, 

I still can’t help this mind filled with doubt. 

The more I try to be normal with the crowd, 

The voice in my head goes from quiet to loud. 

This is not a cry of desperation, asking for relief, 

And I promise with your time I will be brief. 

I turn twenty tomorrow, so the calendar affirms, 

I sit down as the room starts to take some turns, 

Am I making this up, is it all in my head? 

“I’m not crazy”, that’s what I’ve always said, 

But maybe that’s what being original is about, 

Instead of fitting in, I could be born to stand out. 

No more wondering if what I say might offend, 

And just with that my heart starts to mend. 

I don’t want to look back when I hit eighty, 

And think to myself, “what if, just maybe.” 

I will be my own hero, no one else is needed, 

In the end I’ll look back and know I succeeded, 

It won’t be easy, the fight might be rough, 

But of this being normal stuff, I’ve had enough. 

I may never rule the world or win the lottery, 

But my life will be the lived the way I want it to be.

Sept. 2014