Fortune Cookie Poem

Traveling this year will bring your life into greater perspective

I long to see the maple leaves,
Hanging from Canada's eldest trees.
To sniff the cherry blossom air,
Smooth and crisp in China.
I wish to witness the running of the bulls,
Fast, furious, and unforgiving in Barcelona.
My ears long to hear the whisperings of native tongues,
Confusing but beautiful in Africa's most remote places.
The click clack of the hoofs on cobblestones calls me to anywhere England.
The plush green carpet of grass calls my feet to Scotland,
To watch the herding of the sheep moving as one.
Something calm inside my heart wishes to go to India,
To learn something beautiful and forgiving from a Buddhist.
But in the end, I'll always come home,
For you, most of all, I long to learn from.

I Am From Love

I am from 12 year old friendships,
Full of broken-bone-bonds,
And unlimited late night text messages.
I am from a brother who learned to hate before he could love,
Resentful and hostile for his right eye being blind,
My 20/20 vision kept him feeling left behind,
But I loved him none the less.
I am from my Grandma Sally's kitchen, always full of something unhealthy:
Flour streaked across our faces as she taught me to make the cherry pie.
She passed away from cancer, but left in my hands,
That recipe, and forever her memory.
I am from a blues infused love of rock,
Handed down to me from my father,
Molded and changed from my rap-dance-alternative-punk-loving brother.
I am from a home that had to fall apart, to fall in love,
From a mother who's unforgiving and a father who won't leave my side.
I am from a family, who's hit all the twists and turns of a modern world.
I'm from friends who let me forget all this,
To breathe in their passion for life, exhale my troubles,
And dance into the night with them at my hip.
I am from a world of love,
Complicated, confusing, and well overdue.