Gambling My Thoughts

This time, I was sure things would go as I imagined.

I walked into a casino and put two stacks my feelings on one table.

My fingers trembled as I continued raise the stakes

flipping in chips of minutes of my thoughts about you.

I threw everything I had in the game because I believed that I was safe,

that I could gamble every piece of emotion I had in my pockets.

I knew that the more I thought of you, the larger the fall would be

but I raised the stakes anyway

believing that it couldn’t possibly happen,

that this time, I would walk away happy,

but at once, the table was scraped clear.

Every thought spent on you was gone in seconds

leaving me empty-handed and thrown on the streets

because I have no more feelings to give.

Sunglasses

I don’t drink for the same reason I don’t like sunglasses.

When I wear them, I feel like I’m missing out on the color of the world.

And also,

people can’t see my eyes when I wear them,

and I don’t want people to see me through the colored glass

that is the bottle in my hand.

Show me the world for what it actually is.

But then again,

with our limited senses we miss out on so much of the world already,

a few wavelengths of light cut out by darkened glasses

really isn't that much.

Maybe I need to rethink my metaphor.

Galaxies

I want to hear you think,

because every time I look at you I know

that there are entire galaxies behind those eyes

and just like when I look up at the night sky and pretend

that I’m looking out to the edges of the universe I say

“I want to know more”

but I’m also just as happy standing here

watching the stars shining bright and wondering

what there is out there.