Soft Laughter

Soft laughter

Soft laughter

Is a fuzzy streetlight

Is a golden sun

Is the halo around our heads

As we live

Walk to the Wawa

Bike to the courts

Skip on home

It is the hidden corners

The backseat

The radio

The blanket cocoon

Soft laughter on the bleachers and benches

Beaches and waves

Soft laughter is a shiny ring I have unceremoniously shoved on my finger

It is cutting off my circulation

But the glow and glimmer of stars save me a trip to the ER

Quiet joy is always the loudest

It is that specific flavor of love that I yearn for

It is that whisper of shimmering starlight that I scream for

It is that stray tear that I laugh for.

I’m late

running

I feel the perspiration

like a looming deadline

Here I am

I’ve been preached

eleven years

I’m finally here

waves flow

through one ear and out the other

drifting In ‘n Out

they stand

I’m gone

Picked and Prodded

like the little kids

Poking a dead animal

They’re on the playground

I’m under the tree

Throwing fairy dust

It’s in my eyes

I open them

i’m back

In the pile of boxes

With boxes inside

and boxes in those

Finally circles

But besides those

The lost illusion

Of magic

Comes back now

In the present

The waves are now a tsunami of noise

And after

A united appreciation

In sync they applaud

Mirrors

reflections of not-quite what I’ve been taught

The city is not the glossy book I read

With the preacher

Over my shoulder

Telling me what to see

But I’m here now

Or back

On my own

And my prescription is changing

And my eyes have opened

And it’s over

The rooms and gritty brown carpet

Patched with tape

The thin walls with hidden doors

With gaps i passed through

The Times were good It all carefree lest you remember

but I remember now

And I’ll never forget

We said

who said we are little

i’m only little after the sky

and the sky is little

i can fit it in my palm

my line of vision

but i cannot hold my life in a box

i cannot put my words and feelings in one room

the occupancy is past max

my thoughts are a fire hazard

the world hears a siren

there are many i have not spoken to

or seen

but they’ve thought about me

they share my sadness

fear

hopeless

and sometimes,

they think life is a buy one get one free

but I breathe synchronized

and in tune

with the girl across the pond

we have cried together

and laughed

and loved

if little is small

and insignificant

and the distance between our souls is big

w i d e

we

Human people

Are big

I said we are big.

…..(And you did too)

This table

…

This table is a memento

To all those who have come and gone

To best friends we call uncles

And ex-wives we call aunts

It’s a table for new boyfriends we bust

And for goers of the 50-year high school reunion

It’s a table we laugh at

A table we yell at

A table that has been stormed from

And run to

This table holds scratches of a newborn’s teeth

And that same teen’s nails

We have attended Zooms

Movie nights

Thanksgiving dinners

And sweet 16 parties here

We have cried and lived

Died and loved

All at that damn dining room table

Amen

…

“Dig in everyone!”

she rhymes

She smells like grape candy

in the dead of night

Her eyes glow in the rearview mirror

crystal geode out of sight

Her hair flows like waves

the sun shines through

The freckles on her shoulders

laughs but hard work too

Her laugh breaks the sound barrier

just a little annoying but she don’t have a clue

Blisters and calluses

thick skin of her feet

She eats heavy

but her appetite has never been beat

When she looks up

high at wide stars

She squints

too big and too far

jus smth i put tgthr on the notes app

any criticisms?