yesterday, i opened up the drawer— where my will-o’-the-wisps sleep letting my fingers feel for the frayed edges of a small gauze parcel, i unbound the wrapp...

grief saunters in, like a rude house guest who forgets her key at 2 am-- tracking in mud, leaving her sandals strewn about, letting the screen door slam behi...

meet me under the soft moon, when the fruitless fingers almost touch the ground-- weary with waiting and sorrow. we can breathe then-- and utter all the unsa...

the answers you seek are waiting for you in the poems you are too afraid to write. ~ j. avellana

let it come, let it run in and through, a swift flowing stream, carving the heartland, changing the terrain, taking sediment and stone. it wanted to go aroun...

today loneliness is gobbling me up whole. wolfing me down, gulp by gulp, not even bothering to chew. just slowly letting me digest, --bone, sinew, marrow-- i...

i have a jelly jar of memories, with a metal lid. i poked holes in it so the memories can breathe, but not get out. it would make a good wildflower vase— i c...

I am a weed woody, gangly, no lipstick, no shine. But I know how to grow through cement. I know how to take a sliver of filtered sunlight and a teaspoon of d...

when summer comes, the water —-velvety and thick—- will be there to greet you, lapping at your toes, licking you with the soft caress of a puppy’s tongue and...

today i brushed a girl’s headful of knotted hair her pigtails were askew did daddy do your hair this morning or did you i asked (because mom is no more) i di...

heaven is filled with laughter dripping down from the eaves. it will greet me with wide margins, and endless fields of tall grasses swaying on a feather’s br...

how many times is too many times to begin again? who is the accountant keeping track of my failures? is there really a tally of shame, like a prisoner's cale...