A POEM A DAY

I'm just happy to be here.

Tag: hope

April 18, 2025

16/30: A Fortune Cookie Mural in East Austin Reminds Me of Who I Am

This morning, a flat tire.

A nail got me in silence.
I could’ve compromised and collapsed in anger
i could’ve lost control and run off the road,
I could’ve welcomed ruin and speak ill of the day.
But I didn’t. A kindness from the universe.
The eternal optimist writes another verse
into the play.
Last night,
I pass by a wall with a fortune cookie mural

that reads,
You will allow yourself to be yourself again
and maybe it was talking about this moment,

when I had to decide, who I want to be,

or who I will let myself be, or who I want to

let myself be. I will tells me the future is
up the hill, bright as ever, beyond
shadow.

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April 18, 2017

14/30: ARS POETICA

I laugh like salsa kisses
My echo is everywhere
I talk like water goes
My voice is survival
I kiss like a cemetery holds
My mouth is a lousy mausoleum
My poems are the flowers
I bring when I forget how to sing
When the dead weeds of my deeds
need to be pulled up, a poem is a
palm in the soil. Does poetry excuse
my dirty hands? All I ever loved
was to try to help everyone, except
myself. Some mornings, the poet
pretends he is a boy again,
watching his words
escape like balloons
he wants to trade in
for hope.
If it comes down to it,
I may say yes to silence.
Most days,
I smile like my poems try to forget.
So I write to leave the door open.

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