I sat in the back of the classroom in a green metal chair, just small enough that my knees bent at an uncomfortable angle. The room hummed with the morning activity of students unloading backpacks, turning in homework and making their lunch selections on the white board. I waited patiently for my morning...

When it comes, it’s like a death. Not necessarily like dying Something like the death of a loved one Filled with sorrow, regret, longing. But also hope that this is not the end That the hurting is done That all things have been made right And every sad thing has become untrue. Yet not quite like death,...

Lying still, your mouth gapes open. I wonder if you breathe your last. Your hair a white cloud. Your skin softened from disuse. No washing, digging, planting Gardens or children Anymore. Where do your dreams take you? At times you wake in your childhood home Rolling wheat fields, boundless days of freedom. Other...

In this beautiful battle Where you contend for me In a war behind my eyes That I often fail to see In this beautiful battle Remind me I am free As I put on your light armor Darkness stops then flees In this beautiful battle I am safe from all harm You shelter me with your love And hide me in your arms In...

On a good day, I’d like to jump the freight train of your leaded heart and ride to the next stop, taking off well before you notice I’m there. Let me wander along the tracks of your mind, even if they’re just like all the ones I’ve seen before. I’ll try you on, but you’ll...

“I just need someone to love me,” she cried. As if her petition Held more weight because of its passion, And its desperation would somehow conjure up The kind of love she thought she wanted, But love is a strange gift. The strangest gift of all perhaps, which might be why we have children. To remind...

for Liz As dawn was sweeping her crystal shore of sunrise over Notre Dame, the bells of Paris were ringing— they were ringing in my soul, and in my room, and in my head as if a thousand hunchbacks had climbed the tower of my interior and pulled, and yanked, and pulled the ropes until the air was bursting with...

You give me reason . . . You give me reason to open my eyes every morning . . . Just so I can see you again . . . You give me reason . . . You give me reason to believe in life . . . That what is mine is now yours You give me reason . . . You give me reason to breathe . . . Just so I can breathe into...

We’re a family. Many branches, many leaves, one tree. It’s shady underneath this tree. But I’m too far away. The shadows aren’t stretching. Strange. The tree is shrinking, shrivelling. How do I grow close? I’m detached, dying. On my own. But we’re a family aren’t...

I am so grateful for those who participated in this inaugural Poetry Carnival. We have poets from far and wide. Don’t be misled by the number of courageous souls who risked undertaking the challenge. I am thrilled about the quality of poets we are. My challenge to Burnside was to write a poem...