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My way with words and syntax simply
cannot be forgot.
The rhymes and rhythms on this line
are not important.

Ha! Ha! Laugh. I dare you do;
this poem's light of heart.
It need not have a beat or way
to be considered art.

Uh, oh here it comes again:
A change to keep you here;
this stanza only has three lines.

So tell me, are you interested
or are you bored to tears?
Maybe you've just given up.
Yeah, me too.

To the Rose of the Little Prince

My darling, last until we rendezvous.
A fragile rose with water need me not.
In absence, memory will by my Louvre;
and every day I'll wish we hadn't fought.
I've seen the world; I've made a friend of amn,
Some quirky and some mearger sycophant.
And no grown-up will ever understand
how such a thing could be so important.
And yet the time did come for me to go.
My friend, his plane did fix but learned much more.
I walked up to the snake and said, "Hello."
The kiss he gave did send me to your door.
           He thinks of me and all you do is boast.
           To think, the sheep he made concerned me most.

Tommy

Dexter sprinted through the house on all fours. Bleeding and exhausted, he panted desperately for air. Each breath opened his wounds and blood splattered onto the floor. The figure closed in, knife in hand. Dexter barked frantically one last time...then silence consumed the house.

"Tommy!" yelled his mother, walking through the front door, "I'm home." She could hear Tommy doing something upstairs and wasn't sure he'd heard her. "Did you feed Dexter?" she called again.

Tommy walked downstairs nonchalantly, drying his hands on his shirt. "He ran away."

"What?" she gasped, "Which way'd he go?" Tommy pretended not to hear her; instead, he grabbed a black hoodie and put something in the front pocket; she assumed a flashlight. "Check the cul-de-sac, I'll check the woods," she said anxiously.

"Be careful," Tommy replied, grinning.

"Dexter!" she cried, stumbling into the woods. It was nearing sunset. The woods were dark and empty. "Dexter!" she was frightened and the feeling of being watched consumed her. She remembered the unsolved murders that had taken place in these woods at least as long as they'd lived there.

A tree branch snapped. She jumped; then turned...nothing.

"Stop!" yelled a voice in the distance. She gasped and turned. A man was running towards her with something in his right hand; it looked like a knife. Her legs collapsed and she fainted. When she awoke, the man was lying on the ground next to her...dead. In his right hand was a cell phone. Tommy hovered above him, slowly running the barrel of his father's gun through the blood-stained mud. He was smiling.

When Tommy saw that his mother had wakened, he walked slowly to her side and sat down.

"Why did you shoot him?" she cried.

"I thought he had a knife."

She paused, "Then how'd you know to bring the gun?"

backpack

Backpack

Its bright, red body bounced against his back as he made his way to class. The backpack, obviously new, resisted tightly against the pull of books and binders. He gripped its black straps tightly with anticipation. As he walked, pencils in the mesh side pocket shifted slightly to an angle.

My Life as a Broken iPod

I am an aging iPod, ready to break at any minute.

When you first got me for your birthday, we were inseparable, admit it. We spent hours alone in your room listening to your favorite music and blocking out the world.

We had always been best friends. I talked you through your little tantrums by playing your favorite songs and I got the attention that I was built to receive.

Lately however, and ever more frequently, you’ve been leaving me behind; whether it be on the charger for days on end, or sitting on the counter waiting patiently for someone to listen to me.

My voice was the songs you now take for granted and my soul was your playlist. I know everything about you but what can you tell about me? If your soul fell apart, which it had on numerous occasions, I could have you put back together in the time it takes to drive to and from the mall. Can you say the same about me? If I snapped right now and fell into pieces in your lap, could you even begin to put me back together? I guess we’ll find out.

Oh now you want to listen to me as you hop into the passenger seat of your mom’s car? Now you want to remember all the good times we had and bond more than you were ever able to with a real person? Too bad.

Halfway there, I freeze; no big deal, right? Wrong. You push the play button with no response. You push it again, transferring your growing unease and frustration into the force you put on me. Your grip tightens, that hurts. You don’t care.

Apologize, that’s all you have to do. Just say that you’re sorry for leaving me in the cold, all alone and I’ll work again, I promise. We can make this right.

You turn me over and flick my back…OK, it’s on.

My screen goes white and so does your face. I have no problem breaking myself to spite you. You squeeze harder, irritating both of us to the point that while I may work fine later in the day, this experience will always stay with us.

You’re here. As your mom pulls into the parking lot, you curse me silently in your head. I watch your eyes and hear every word. In a fit of frustration and rage you snap off your headphones and toss me into the cup holder. Without thinking twice, you walk into the grocery store.

A half hour later, you get back into the car. My battery’s dead, I have no more fight left. The fact that I am hurt is plain to see and you realize this with remorse.

You take me out of the cup holder and place me gingerly in your lap. Gently, you wet a small section of your shirt with the water bottle you just bought and run the damp, soft cloth across my screen. As you wash me, you remember how it used to be, how I got you through some of the hardest times in your life.

After the decay of neglect has been washed away, you carefully place me into your jeans pocket. I’m right where I should be.

When you get home, you take me into your room and plug me into your stereo. My screen lights up and the charging symbol appears in the top corner. You push play and we relive what we had lost for so long. Friends forever.