Extreme

The tears welled up behind
eyes viewing images of death,
destruction, chaos, and despair

But it wasn't until the comedian
shouted, "LAUGH"
that they finally fell.

New Things

All the new things I've been doing
all the changes I have made confuse
the pattern I've been cutting along
for decades.

I can feel as the muscle breaks and
rebuilds. Something is wholly right
while something else
misled.

Building a person from a mind
which has only recently been explored
serves to remind me of tens of mantras
about change.

Around my visible options
and all these new things
live overused metaphors
saturated with sudden meaning like

a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or
a heart pumping blood through
the body or a hole mended or--
my life.

I do believe this is natural.
It is beautiful. It is difficult
but that only means it is alright
to look back even if only
for a moment or two.