Self Portrait: Day Forty-Four

i'm re-learning

how to

b e

(sometimes i lose my way,
forget my name,

crash my own parties)

i love remembering

what it's like

to feel like

m e

Self Portrait: Day Forty-Three

sometimes something old

is just what i need

to coat my heart gold

Self Portrait: Day Forty-Two

i live in these

because i like the illusion

of being

free

Self Portrait: Day Forty-One

there's no good way to tell me

i'm looking un-incredible today

i'm waiting for a muse
to piece me back together

Self Portrait: Day Forty

today i was a floral monstrosity,

the perfect hideaway for bears

and hearts

***

Today I’m a floral monstrosity, a firework garden of peony and azalea and daisy and narcissus.  Purple silky roses nip my ears and golden forget-me-nots crown my toes (but only an unadorned single diamond perches on my nose).  Primrose and foxglove and jasmine and hydrangea creep up my arms and hug my torso before gushing over my thighs like a thick cloud of amethyst purple and canary yellow and apricot orange and aquamarine blue and peacock green.  The scent of sweet cherry blossoms swim about my neck and wrists, fragrant reminders of both botanic summer whispers and infectious howls of laughter, thoughts that keep me sane when my legs threaten to whisk the rest of me away from here.  Inside my chest a brilliant bird of paradise erupts into a blossom, its sharp wings of poetry puncturing the doubt that wastes me.  Incessantly are petals crushed and stems cut short, but all I know is hearts that break can bloom into splendor and shame the living who are not really living.

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Nine

a vintage bluebird nests in my hair

mumford & sons fills my head

i'm praying for people everywhere

trying to honor the tragedies i've read

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Eight

dear shark week:

i miss you.  please come back soon.  you are beautiful just the way you are--
don't let any jerks tell you otherwise.

love,

the confetti monster

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Seven

i turned the fantasy in my head

into a crown of lovelies instead

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Six

art club

representin' my homies at the farmers' market

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Five

tonight my heart is waste and shame

(i'm counting the seconds till i feel the same
as anything, anything but plain)

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Four

confetti monster

glitter paws

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Three

polar bear around my neck

can't deter my forehead's sweat

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-Two

i'm really wanting to blow away

Fringe

i don't want to be paid

in crystals or in gold--

i want to be loved

and i want to grow old

Self Portrait: Day Thirty-One

 

there's nothing regal about who i am

except the crown atop my head

Self Portrait: Day Thirty

a storm brewed above our music fest

and forced the acoustics to take a rest

but secretly we adored the thrill of the tempest

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Nine

Puppy

W A R S

take place right beneath me

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Eight

ruffled-skirtskin

ruffled-skirtskin

ruffled-skirtskin

(the curse is lifted)

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Seven

 

Goals:

1. Learn to play the guitar.

2. Have fun playing the guitar.

3. Become a world famous musician.

4. Take over the world.

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Six

rainbows on my shoulder

(rain inside my heart)

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Five

i want to fly a globe away

pack me up in cream-colored lace and say

every day is your lucky lucky day

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Four

u n i c o r n s

are the

N E W

e v e r y t h i n g

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Three

i wear gems on my heart

yellow and blue

in case i ever lose my way to you

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-Two

seven years since i've been on a school bus

and that's okay with

me

Self Portrait: Day Twenty-One

there are some things you can't undo

or you can't unsee

i'm trying so hard to not always

be all about me

Self Portrait: Day Twenty

caught

bread-handed

Self Portrait: Day Nineteen

somewhere in the middle

is a super nova poet

spilling her words like confetti

over your nicely groomed hair

Self Portrait: Day Eighteen

breaking me open

and gutting clean my chest--

the world's advertisement

that Attractive is Best

Self Portrait: Day Seventeen

Imperfection

Oddly proportioned

Short and stubby

Bright with wonder

Won't give up

Can't take my thunder

Self Portrait: Day Sixteen

Hexagon vs. Rectangle