it's what i do... i dream

November 12, 2009
Normal, IL


To my mother,
Who pretends she is not dying
to my heart,
my pieces of skin
to the child I left behind
and the one I always dreamed of
to the love I always thought I lost
and the ones who lost me
to the one who shares my story
and my gift for telling all
to the one whose promises I kept
and whose heart I broke
the girl who always looks at me
open-eyed and open-hearted
like she can see straight through
to everything I’ve been hiding
from the boy who still calls me his
and the ones who never got the chance
to my friends who never made it
to my period of self-acknowledgement
to my family who never doubted
the fact that I could make it
to my dreams
that never stop coming
no matter how much I tell myself
they can never come true
to the truths I left hidden
and the lies I wrote to you
to the songs I keep writing
even when they don’t make sense
to the girls I keep remembering
even when they couldn’t recall my name
to the one who promised me everything
and the one who took it away
to my aunt who waited sixty years
to finally admit what we already knew
to my uncle who lived 83 years
to show me how to live graciously
to the singers who always know my heart
and the poets who always know my tragedies

this life is for you.
This life is your proclamation
That you were here
And breathing
And living
And loving
And this life is yours for the making
This heart is yours for the beating
And yours for the taking
And ours for the molding
Because this life is all about the mold
About using our hands and our song to
Break out of our mediocrity and
Believe everything true
This is your gospel
And you can tell your story
Any way you want to believe it
Because I believe in you and us
And the thoughts you left unwritten and
The ones you gave me to write for you
And this life is especially for you
It is yours