By Amy Simone Piller
Paint sticks on walls
people become their parents
picture frames capture moments.
Surely someone wears leather shorts
but even this is a trope
People listen with no willingness
imagination stays confined
to the recesses of time
make it work; wear floral prints
lack awareness of goals
beyond days days end multiplied
There is this moment
here we are again
take it and hate it
leave it to love it
try [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
Deafening words chosen to address need
accidentally imposing thoughts categorically
Step back.
I’m trying to listen to you more
ask less, see patterns unfold
focus on the door to the room
not the room beyond next
Step by step
keep you speaking
engaging thinking
talking freely.
Don’t build made up walls.
If the cubicles you’ve constructed
don’t make your messes make sense
climb out of box.
You will not always [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
You are absent all too often
Where do you go?
What do you do when you sit home?
Are you home?
What is home like?
Do you wish you were at school?
You like to avoid.
What do you like to avoid?
What can I make you like?
Is it my business to intrude?
Should I know?
Should I show up at your door?
Should the counselor [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
What lies behind my next door
differs markedly from yours
but based on this I must not lower my expectations
If properly motivated
attentively watched after
you could be like me
(Which in turn would mean I could
invent something worth millions;
see distribute property).
I should go to your house
I dream it up often enough
conjured like stolen impressionist pixels
paint bombed on the canvas
from [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
“Thank you for the day,†my mother would say
abashed and sorry we could not do more
endlessly grateful for your loving ways
for your kindness we can never repay
from day one you became part of my core
“Thank you for the day,†my mother would say
With the promise of your greencard someday
Through my childhood together we’d forge
Endlessly grateful [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
Look up there are sills that somebody carved
there are balloons leaving somebody’s arms
look up there’s a tall man looking back down
there’s a sneaker hanging up upside-down
look up there’s a billboard with something to say
look up there’s a cloud floating away
look up there’s still hope that you might collide
with other bits of energy under this sky
look [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
HR people are never popular
someone must do the must like things
How many must people make a must day go on
and would the must days go away if they did?
Would it be better or worse then?
More than must or less and lost?
By Amy Simone Piller
Please work better
like everything else
I never meant to neglect you.
Among many other things we are rated on
metabolism fast or slow.
Break down here
comes in many forms
we could make this one positive
If you could just break me down
I would relax.
By Amy Simone Piller
Have we outdated ourselves
running through each other’s veins?
Will we mind-read our lives away
traveling dreams of others?
What did you just think?
Post-it, share it,
you are valuable (dammit).
I miss packages (rue the day)
the present of distance
space made by missing.
If only we didn’t communicate so often
we would miss what wasn’t always.
By Amy Simone Piller
We pretzel again and again
various motivations, myriad forms
match what the media makes mandatory
what this age is meat to be
tests, technology, computerized success
possibility and wait
terrifying trajectory
at what cost do we leap
what lily pad we do we leave
the onslaught of your beliefs:
“They’re too young to know what’s good for themâ€
“Test them regularlyâ€
“Are your kids going to be [...]