The Matrix
In this movie, the characters are trapped in a virtual computer-world built by robots, in which human minds are simulated to give the people impressions of reality.

Last year
No apprehension
Just suspension
Over reality
When it came to
Bestfriendships
I was putting off
Inevitability
And short hair
Most surely
And vague thoughts
Wonderfully
And slaving over
Recreational masks
To make
A few bucks
(And now I make more than that
Every week
But still
Somehow
It's not enough)
I was excited
I felt alive
But compared to now I
Was stupefied
Because I get it now
I feel like I do

i. royalty
do not crown me in diamonds
for they can be found everywhere
save them for the other ones
who worship them, so bare
do not crown me in rubies
with their bloody, painful glare
save them for the empty days
when rain pours and seams tear

crown me in the whitest pearls
from deep beneath the sea
culminated, over time
made for queens like me
give me necklaces of opals
to wear like a blessed wreath
whisper secrets never told
falling, soft, from tongue and teeth

King David wrote a psalm, in which
He tells his soul to bless the Lord.
In other songs he said to “praise”,
A somewhat different choice of word.

We know to praise, for He is great
And sits enthroned in majesty;
By His own power, He self-exists,
No start, no end; eternity.

With just His words, He made the earth,
And shaped its features with His hand;
He made the sea, and in its midst
The pillars set for solid land.

the truth of this one life
held for a moment in
the sound of waves
tapping the shore
and the rustling grass
the spiral shape
of a snails home
and even the sand
between your toes.

it's all that holds us
together--the fragility
of this life is held
by the certainty of
not knowing everything
and the wonder of
knowing nothing.

and somewhere in
the sound of birds
in the trees and the hum
of passing traffic
there is inescapable
divinity.

Because one moment was not enough
to keep the memory from fading

and the last pieces of this day
slipped from the sky into the
darkening shades of night

and if there was a reason for anything
to blossom it was because
it was the first time and

if there was anything left to
believe in it was the light
left behind in the last star

disappearing as the light
steals over the horizon

and only these hands remain,
left open, as every other door closes

I like myself the
Way I am
I wouldn't want to be any
Different
I don't think
I mean
How could I know?
I'm still young
Still naive
Still afraid
Of anything
That threatens my sense of
Security
But I don't want to be established
Just yet
I like the teetering uncertainty of
Where I go and
Who I'll be
I'll watch it unfold
Tenderly
I've done so much but
Not enough
For me
I never want it to be
One and done
But maybe that's because

Just like that. After seven-and-a-half years, eight drafts, countless revisions, and a title change, my first novel is now published and available.
Finally--finally!--after all these years, it's 100\% complete and out there on the market for real.

More Than Anything

Don't you ever wish you could
Trek back
Undo what hath been done
Unto someone
If only for their sake and
Not so much your own
You'd take the burden's brunt if it
Meant they'd be alone
In their blunt-mouthed ignorance
If only
You could go
Back to it
Again

Sparkle

Chapter Two--Nazgul

Kelly began making coffee as every one else started to wake up.
Pamela got a cup for herself, sitting down on the couch. Iola and Arianna took seats beside her with their own cups.

Kelly let out a sigh.
"What's that?" Pippin asked, looking at the coffee. "Can I try it?"

She smiled. "Course you can," she said, reaching for another cup from the cupboard. "It's called coffee. Though I can't promise you'll like it." She poured it into the cup. "Careful, Pip. It's hot."