Shay

<sub>6 lines, 5 beats per

We huddled in groups,
our shoulders shaking.
“Look,” a classmate said,
pointing to the sky
with a trembling hand,
“God is crying too.”


7 lines, 8 beats per

The chapel was filled with mourners,
some silently shaking, others
screaming heart-wrenching sobs, broken.
Someone near the front was singing,
"His Eye Is On The Sparrow," and
I sang it softly to myself
as I walked through the rain outside.</sub>

A classmate of mine, a senior that graduated last year, died last Sunday.
Please pray for eveyone dealing with her loss.

Vacation

<sub>18 lines, 7 beats per

fade me into shades of brown
and turn my world upside down
wake me up late afternoon
forget that school's starting soon
later, when we peel away
flaking skin, then we will say
entirely nothing at all
about the impending fall
and all its consequences
just sitting on our fences
so very indecisive
when we want to choose to live
in the memory of heat
just forget reality
so we ignore these thoughts and
keep walking on, hand in hand
remembering that summer
can only come once a year.</sub>

I meant to make that one a tad shorter, really. But then I just kept going, and going, and going...

Selkie

_{Did the sea call her by name? Waves wholly washing away her shame, a hoard of secrets shared in whispers on the shore, promises of distant lands- warmer waters, softer sands, places that she's never dreamed before. broken lights like mirrors ride, a thousandbeams fragmented by the ancient tricks of wind and distance- takes her to another place; she sinks without resistance}

A selkie is a mythological being thing that goes from seal to human, typically just in the way of shedding their seal skin & putting it back on. Not was I was thinking of when I wrote this, but it works... I think.