Author: lbstowe

Can you come in & help me label my crazy?
See, it’s not that I can’t or that I am lazy.

Please, I don’t know all the words to write what they are.
Other people write loony with feather & tar.

But me, I’d prefer to not always feel sticky.
Being self-aware is indeed a bit tricky.

Even world travelers don’t know every port.
So, to process it all; I must file, I must sort.

For this work, I will need a second opinion.
Determined to rule over my daft dominion.

Our body is a garden that needs tending.
We host Flora & Fauna without ending.

Do you disagree? Well, go on. I dare you.
This is common knowledge & it’s old, not new.

Our biome’s are aswarm, both inside & out.
We’re just building blocks & micro-life’s our grout.

Check-in with your skin & hair…& your plumbing.
What can you nurture to keep it all humming?

Suffer the creatures tilling soil in your flesh…
Each new generation from crevices’ crèche.

Witches on bicycles by the drove, thru every neighborhood they rove.
Thru holiday thrills & chills we’ve strove, fueled by our sugary candy trove.

Masked covens weave swiftly down your road, seeking chances to lighten their load.
First, tricks waiting for the slightest goad; then, out come all the treats…à la mode.

One corner has skeletons dancing, the opposite zombies advancing.
Wind thru trees, hanging ghosts a-dancing & costumed children candy-chancing.

Night moves in & holiday gets dark; magic tension in the air so stark.
Eve tricks the shadows to stretch their mark; even twilight is having a lark.

Children crash to sleep from sugar highs & dream of their family’s disguise.
Older aged kids mayn’t be so wise; watchful for hells that will never rise. 

Shame is a demon passed down by parents; those who’ve not vanquished their own.
We are what we’re taught, for better or worse; we reflect the things we’re shown.

The formative code we’re all saddled with is a thing we can’t rewrite.
We can correct it & we can reject it, but can’t erase the blight.

Find the parcel where you keep your dark & open it up to the sun.
Excavating the coal in your soul is the only way you’ll have won.

Talking cures & self-expression are effective for exorcism.
Filter the rank waters we’ve been soaked in thru a positive prism.

Better is good & best is better; that’s really all that we can do.
Identifying the roots with shame’s rot, thus treating the whole of you.

What a privilege to watch the natural world die in an ecstasy of color.
Spared long cold sleep are the evergreen & holly king; his crown & poison collar.

I’m mindful of the beautied grace in a tree’s leaf-death; flitting whimsically to ground.
On windswept days of whistling cool, the ombré snow of leaves is magic; without sound.

Unlike its counterpart, blooming spring, fall will come & go in a precious instance.
The season is an anti-spring, only growing drowsier at cold’s insistence.

I’ll breath it in, while the air is temperate, mindful of the temporary present.
 I’m reminded, when all is bare, life will return by the august feathered pheasant.

Yes, the busy squirrels, a telling name, are proof that winter’s about survival.
Prepare & watch! For autumn’s death puts on a show like the coming spring’s revival.

This is all me, as verse allows, I’ve felt everything I’ve writ.
This I choose to filter my whole in the brevity of wit.

I am diligently present for words; what they mean & why.
Interpretation always has room & tone just cannot lie.

Cognates, calques & Janus words often nurture our confusion.
I learn how a word was built & rebuild them by conclusion.

Curiosity, must then be, parent to innovation.
Born of whimsy & clever clogs, clip-clops alliteration.

So this is me, the wordy nerd, who will tell you everything.
Words have weight & life needs ballast; so my phrasing’s made to wring.

Why, oh why, have I lived my life so intensely?
Do I have to feel all of it so immensely?

Does my every heart string belong to the world?
Why’s my heart outside me & nerves always unfurled?

I’ve lived fast & I’ve lived slow; I’ve even stood still.
Yet, the flow of my empathy’s a humming mill.

It’s easy for some to turn it down; even off.
But, I can’t find the dial; so, I’m always on quaff.

I’ve kept frail peace with the draught of humanity.
Gulping joys with sins…in a play for sanity.

Can’t sip from a waterfall…but I might still try.
I’m quenched unto drowning; but at least I know why.

I know water is life & we all must have it.
Plus, I just can’t conceive of a xeric habit.

We live in the memories of those who know us.
They repeat things we said that wrested their focus.

A one-liner here; a witty opinion there.
I will live on in a nameless cognitive flair.

My mind is my garb & my words are my garden.
I’ve sewn & I’ve sown, so my me will not harden.

Please, tend to my blooms & hand what’s left of me down.
Take me with you ‘round the world, or just about town.

Yes, I augment; but my color’s indelible.
Change is healthy…but consistency’s tellable.

Here is the ride I’ve been waiting for, here at my door.
I know I can step up to the occasion, & more.

Letting all of the negative slide off of my back.
Join in the fun & be yourself-there’s nothing you lack.

Here comes the swell again; so climb up onto your board.
You can take on anything; using love as your sword.

Everyday is a chance to see it all in new light.
Open up your hearts & let the day burn into night.

Remind me of this feeling when the waves crash again.
Every crash brought me to where the new rise begins.

Clean & stitch up your own wounds & choose the shape of your scar.
Unhealed trauma can fester deep, seeking out hearts to mar.

Tucked away in bubbles, I guess, what’s real can be your choice.
Though, breakthroughs cannot be confirmed without a second voice.

Life’s too short for rabbit holes unless they feel like magic.
Jumping to conclusions based on biases is tragic.

Cast wide nets, when data fishing, don’t just keep drilling down.
Racing to prove points at depth fails; clear vision will embrown.

Don’t look deeper than light can prevail, lest ye brought a torch.
Still, what you find might oxidize at ultra violet’s scorch.