PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I've witnessed two strangers become friends, and friends become shy crushes, then become jubilant risk-takers, then lovers, then partners, and then something more than they can even fathom to describe

Conversely ...I've seen some wither, and emerge as polite shells of humanity towards one other..uprooting their foundations, and finding new houses to begin the cycle all over again

I've felt my father survive various heart ailments and questioned the strength of my own heart on occasion

I've seen the tears and felt the warm embrace of a grandmother in her final days, summoning the strength to tightly hug her loved ones after realizing this would, in fact, be goodbye (I cried a lot, too)

I had my first kiss playing spin-the-bottle at a school function (it was nice)

I've watched a community mourn the preventable loss of a 17 year old best friend in a ceremony I knew he wouldn't approve, and bawled uncontrollably with a dozen peers huddled together outside the steps of the church

I've read the final words of this tragically selfish dead ally of mine, with his boyish vision of what the world had to offer, and experienced rage, grief, confusion, and anguish simultaneously - I miss him dearly, and think of him every time one of this favorite bands plays on my iPod, or in an old CD from my car

While in attendance, I've experienced championships, series sweeps, home run derbys, last-second wins..and every probable and improbable heartbreak a Buffalonian can fathom in the sporting world

I've become a team captain on nearly every sports team I've participated alongside, won championships and missed the playoffs throughout

I once tried to deploy the airbag of my own car by forcefully kicking the dashboard (somebody else was driving, and I had too much liquor)

Some years later, I've drank so much I played NBA Jam against myself (to the delight of everybody else watching) and was complaining my opponent sucked...this is also second-hand information, as I blacked out long before...

...I don't drink very much anymore

I sang impromptu karaoke for well over an hour on an outside patio to the passersby until my lungs hurt and I couldn't laugh anymore

Wrote my first poem in ninth grade as a school project for Mr. Anderson's English class. It talked a lot about the will of God and such.

I'm devoutly agnostic.

I've consoled loyal friends who survived cancer, reexamined what became important to their lives afterwards, and found joy in the face of immense hardship

I've pet a stingray

I've gone with a friend to the same damn restaurant every weekend for literally an entire calendar year just to 'randomly' get the waitress my friend had a crush on

I've been in a car we stuck in a snow bank attempting to dodge the police (successfully, somehow)

I've tried on more masks and wigs at Spencer's than I can count

I've played Nutball with total strangers (the key is to wear baggy jeans so you can create a springboard off your crotch when spread eagle, deflecting anything that comes your way)

I was unable to unearth a wedding ring from my right breast pocket of my tuxedo (upon the priest's request during the ceremony) because of how sweaty my palms were for a solid 45 seconds, all before successfully digging far enough down and excavating the metal bastard to the laughs and cheers of many, the moment was as simultaneously mortifying as it was unintentionally charming (so I've been told)

I've taken part in a whipped cream bottle battle royale at one in the morning at my work place, cleaned up (including a strategic visit to the convenient store to find cheap shampoo/soap wash the dairy smell out of our hair in the bathroom) and had the district manager unexpectedly show up two hours later..      

...and not notice a thing

(not even the wet hair of my love or other fellow coworkers)

I've generated yawns, tears, confusion and the like during various wedding receptions through best man speeches - asked the crowd to 'give it up for the happy couple!' without a single clap to be found... another time I was shaking so bad I could hardly read the words on the page and afterwards, I gulped a full glass of champagne like a shot so I could sit back down and breathe... a third time I literally read my speech, encountered a bout of depression and sat alone on a pier for an hour (the guilt from that one...ugh)

I've purchased 14 carnations ($1 each, man! c'mon...) for the 14 high school girls in my Spanish class and had the gumption to place them on every one of their desks on Valentine's Day before they walked into the room, just because (a lot of confused 'thank you's followed, but no dates..worth a shot, heh...)

I've touched the soft lips of a lover with the rough pads of my fingers, warmly rubbed her collarbone, and fallen asleep with her in my arms, fingers serenely interlocked, smiling, and feeling a purpose I didn't know existed in this world until that moment

I've felt the sting of an anger-infused car door slammed in my face

I've experienced my lava lamp flicking me off once

I sang with Jon in the bright sunshine of a brilliant May afternoon on the steps of my college library.. there was really only one song we had down pat - it didn't matter one bit

I've completed the Rock Band 2 marathon playlist (83 songs, I think?) in just under 9 hours, after consistent pausing and nap time

I've jumped into a pool with my cell phone...after removing my water-proof watch

I've willfully doled out 50 bucks at a Dave and Busters with my love and left with only a 5 foot tall stuffed animal on my back, and couldn't be happier

I've sat in the back of a boat on a 70 degree evening gently making waves along a river that otherwise would appear to be made of glass, all while the sun and its rays expanded the entire horizon line while sipping a beer, experiencing total serenity

I've walked the same blind man up the stairs of his childhood home after school and down the aisle of his wedding

I've watched the slow but definite growth of my amazing nephews - every time I forget what it's like to experience pure, innocent elation on this planet, I look to them

In front of thousands, I've willingly spun around a lacrosse stick until I was dizzy and lost a competition to a little girl

I've felt adrenaline coarse through my body in a mosh pit (just once, that's all I needed)

I've seen the beauty of a thousand glowing embers scatter recklessly onto the ground in a friend's yard after we shoved a Coke can into a bonfire and struck it repeatedly with a blunt metal stick

I've never hit a hole-in-one (close a couple times, 2 feet out or so...)

I've watched hundreds of Chinese lanterns cascade over the downtown Buffalo skyline filled with the allure of a glistening sunset and the contrasting old, rusty grain silos that line the river...quite a scene, and still one of my favorite photographs I've captured

I've learned that after proposing in a nice restaurant, some places will offer you free champagne and dessert (but not sides...mashed potatoes are still expensive as hell)

I've studied for months for tests and failed
and I've passed life tests without studying

I have lost genuine love and have analyzed every angle of my soul to regenerate my passion
and love found me despite nearly any effort of my own

I've been labelled a villain, a saint, a liar, an honest man, a slacker, a hard-worker, an uneducated sinner, an overeducated, overanalytical, entitled Millennial, a brat, a kind soul ..... and aside from those things that I've labelled myself, some people have also called me other things, too (heh)

I've documented these thoughts, feelings, worries, and triumphs in writing for half my lifetime, and still think I'm so far away from maintaining self-awareness, or from quelling the storms that slosh about between my ears and above my vocal chords

Life's full of insanely random, beautiful, heartbreaking, brainless, hilarious, tragic moments
nobody's perfect
so just make the most of your time
share your lives and your experiences with the ones you love
cut your losses
and don't belittle yourself or degrade your precious time with people who don't appreciate what you have to offer