She and I

She looks good standing by your side,

But I feel good laying in your bed.

She says all the right things,

But my lips make your heart skip a beat.

She holds your hand, 

But I hold your heart.

Try as we might,

Neither of us is enough.

Too Much

I'm much too broken to ever be fixed.

No half-lies or half-truths will do the trick.

It's all or nothing to repair this break.

And we can never give all, 

It's too much to take.

Gone

"Where is the complaining, pain in the ass girl that I'm in love with?"

"You won't find her. She's given up."

"On what?"

"Believing you'll be the promises you made." 

Implanted

I try to keep you at the forefront of my mind at all times. 

Actually, I don't try. 

You've implanted yourself there 

And it's become your spot. 

Though I haven't tried too hard to move you. 

Yes, you implanted yourself 

With your sweet words,

With your amazing kisses,

With your touch that turns me on. 

You implanted yourself 

And it was deliberate.

Systematic. 

You knew what you were doing. 

And I let you. 

Some Love

Some love is patient and kind,

Some love is sweet and soft,

Some love is romantic and charming.

That one's what most girls search for.

But some love is here and now,

Some love is no matter what,

Some love is desperate and greedy.

That one's my favorite. 

Whole

I don't know how to love like this:

In halves,

In pieces.

I only know how to be whole.

It's either all or nothing,

And you seem to have chosen nothing 

Devolved

We have devolved,

Become less than what we were.

Lost in this mess, 

Unable to find a way out,

Not knowing that it is simpler than we thought:

Goodbye. 

Epic Battle

Anger wells up,

But sadness takes over. 

An epic battle ensues. 

My soul sobs so fiercely,

Drowning my heart's screams for release. 

The Pearl

A pearl of hope
Lost between the folds
Recovered by a lover,
Stolen by his touch.
Returned one day, sadly
A pearl of hope
Lost between the folds
Stolen by his touch,
Forgotten forever.

Margaritaville Reads: Character 1 Millie Introduction

Top down, wind blowing the ends of her Lilly Pullitzer scarf behind her, Millie felt as though all of her worries were flying away with it. As soon as the Florida turnpike ended and the drive into the Florida Keys began, marked by the turquoise concrete barriers dividing the street, there was a noticeable difference in the color of the sky, in the brightness of the sun, and the relaxed way of life obvious from the "Closed" signs on the doors of the businesses whose owners were just as relaxed.

"Off fishing, I bet," she said aloud to herself with a smile.

As the only child of Cuban parents, who were exiled in 1959 after Fidel Castro took the happy island into his cruel grasp, Millie had heard countless times about the way the sky over Varadero Beach was unlike any other in the world. The generations before her, who had all grown up spending their summers at their beach houses on the pristine sands of Varadero Beach, always commented that the blue sky was a shade the imagination could not conjure if it tried; the sun shone so brightly, toasting their skin to a perfect caramel color, few clouds dared to interrupt the hues dancing across the sky, and the warmth that embraced their laughter made it the most beautiful beach in the world.

Millie had always rolled her eyes at this as a child, saying "The sky is the sky, everywhere in the world. The sun is only one. We all see it the same way. It's only that you remember it as Heaven on Earth, but it was just a beach."

On her first drive down to the Keys, she realized how wrong she had been. There was a different sky floating above this small paradise. The reflection of the sky on the ocean below, where blues, greens, teals, and colors that man had yet to name melded together with the rhythmic movement of the water created by the creatures below it's surface. This is what creates a sky that rivals Heaven: the beauty of the world below. The fact that the sun shines brighter, well, that is because there is nothing around to stand in it's way: no skyscrapers to hide behind, no concrete jungle to dull it's reflection. It is pure and simple. The homes and shops along the street are painted in bright, happy, carefree colors furthering the sense of joy Millie feels each time she makes the drive. A three-hour drive to the north of Miami would bore her to tears with the interminable, lonely, highway and tree-filled gaps between new housing developments. Driving south is another experience entirely.

The mangroves that divide the land and sea are mesmerizing. If not for these trees, with the most complex and puzzling root system she has ever seen, the islands would have long ago eroded back into the ocean from whence they came. Their multi-tentacled, web-like roots sprout from below an unassuming leafy top. These small trees ban together, intertwined like new lovers unable to part from each other, to create a barrier strong enough to protect the tiny islands from even the strongest of hurricanes. As powerful as they are, as intimidating as they may seem from below the water's surface where their roots shoot down in a maze nearly impossible to navigate, they are the motherly protectors of not only the land, but of all of the life on the island. Beneath their roots, in the dark, difficult to penetrate embrace of their arms is a refuge for hatchlings and small animals. All of this, and never would these trees, dare to take from the magnificent view of sparkling water, twinkling in the light of the proud sun showing off all of the unnamed colors.

Millie is so entranced by the magnificence of the changes in the beauty around her that before she knows it, she has pulled up to the house. She is so filled with anticipation, that she puts the car in park, purely out of habit, leaves the keys in the ignition and the driver's door wide open and runs up the front steps of the wood-siding clad, Keys style, ever welcoming home.

Hostage

I am hopelessly in love

With a soul I cannot have

Bound in other worlds

Held hostage in another life

My heart has bled out from the pain of it

There is no beat left 

I am walking around in an empty shell

Silence

I am tired of being disappointed by the silence,
Waiting for the words that never come.
You are not a poet,
And I only know how to love like one.

Kryptonite

Kryptonite you called me,

But I am not that strong. 

Rock solid has never been

My nomenclature. 

I am your weakness, 

But you, Superman, are mine. 

Debilitating in the most divine way,

I am left drained, all of the fight

You have drunk from my half-parted lips. 

My strength is your downfall,

But as long as we fall together,

Collapsing on clouds built of dreams

Surrounded by hope born of joy,

I will gladly crumble with you. 

Right Now

I have spent my entire life 

playing it safe 

just to avoid 

being where I am 

right now:

With a beating heart,

Breath caught,

And tongue-tied

Witch

Irrefutable proof
That I am a witch:
I am melting,
Slowly, irreversibly,
As you laugh at the puddle that was me

Faster

Fly, swim, crawl

But come to me.

The ache is burning

And the pieces that are left

Are too small to last long 

Nothing is Right

Miles and days

Oceans and weeks

I am not there

You are not here

And all I know

Is nothing is right

Can you see

Does it show, 

Can you see?

The loneliness,

The sadness,

Behind the smile

That is me. 

Lightning

More often than we should be allowed, we get to be in the same place at the right time. And even without the thunderstorms, there's lightning. 

Time

Neither forever nor Infiniti explain in truth

Always is simply not enough

The end of time will not suffice either

Time cannot be measured

Not a word exists to explain 

How long I will be yours 

Words

I lost them. 

The words. 

They flew out of my mouth 

And straight to your heart

Where they stayed, 

Because they are finally home. 

You and Me

It's you and me. 

Life is not a well- thought out, carefully revised, re-written, edited novel. 

It's not a pre-screened and re-worked film made to suit audiences. 

It's us, every day. 

As is. 

We have to take the good with the bad. The happy and the sad. 

We have to accept it for what it is. 

But more importantly, how we remember it. 

Both

You made me love you,

And now I can't undo it.

No matter how broken my heart,

Each small piece beats for you. 

It is at the same time pain and joy

It is at the same time hope and despair 

It is at the same time all and nothing 

And all because you loved me

Stolen

Gone with the first sight of a low-hung, brilliantly glowing full moon.

Gone with the last touch of a setting sun on the ocean's top.

Gone with the first touch from your fingertips.

Gone with the softest caress of your lips on mine.

Breath, stolen, quietly.

Heart, love, taken.

And I am eternally grateful. 

Thank God for You

"Oh how I understand" you said

"Thank God you do

And thank God for you"

How very Dr. Seuss of me.

So elementary,

The need for friends, 

Sharing hopelessness

And fear and loneliness

And life.

Home

The size and weight of your hands on my bare hips,

Your arm, laying across my back, pressing down with the comfort of sleep.

Your breath in my ear, slow and steady.

I circle your finger tips with mine, 

My eyes shut, and we are alone, away, hidden.

No one will find us and we alone can feel us. 

That is home.

Pen to Paper

Pen to paper does not force a heart to pour out it’s darkest secrets.


It is not a dagger causing words to bleed from an open wound.


When the blood and tears are ready to flow, the pen is simply the vein;


The heart, it’s own brain with it’s own language, it’s own imagery.


There is no right or thought or hope,


It is simply need to pour forth what can no longer be kept in.

If you told me

If you told me to love you,

I wouldn't know how to stop. 

If you told me to need you, 

I'd say I already do. 

If you told me to let you go,

I'd say never. 

If you told me I could be yours,

I'd be afraid to wake up.

Change

"I wouldn't change a single thing about you" he said to her.

"I would change only one thing about you" she quietly whispered to him. "I'd make you mine."