This is...

This is two childhood friends,
formerly known as best friends,
at a birthday with the theme of Madagascar,
echos of very few children hum in the background,
both wearing Alex the Lion masks,
that reflected the courageousness in their youth

this is bold, bright smiles hidden behind masks,
before the big move, before high school or even middle school,
before puberty and the separation of parents,
before we got lost in our adolescence,
and forgot what it was like to pick up the phone and project,
a hearty 'hello'.

Photos of the Millennium

         This photograph was taken in 2004 during the Orange Revolution. It features a Ukrainian woman putting carnations into the shields of police officers. This photograph is very beautiful to me. It shows that even through all of the chaos that may be going on humans have not lost their humanity. This is not the first time I have seen something like this. I believe a group of individuals in within the United States placed carnations in the shields of policemen at an anti-riot. It is almost like a peace offering, "we are not here to harm you, we hope you are not here to harm us".

The Odd Couple

         The echo of argumentative voices in a lonely penthouse was now replaced with a hushed vibrato from a diner speaker and cold bar stools. The night had vastly grown frigid since the revealing of covert rendezvous. A wed couple focused, unconvincingly, on tattered menus that sat in front of them. Both were cloaked in wealth and were, noticeably, on the wrong side of town. One can only assume the couple had dinner plans at an upscale restaurant and now had no desire to be seen by their peers.
         There had never been a couple that had caught the night shift waiter's eye as much as the couple that currently occupied the bar stools. It was apparent that the two had just endured a lengthy argument, and although their facial expressions and lack of conversation reeked of mistrust, their body language told a different story. The couple sat slightly facing each other, but being cautious of just how far they were turned in. And although their hands never once intertwined, they placed them carefully close to each other as if they were saying their complications were absolved.
         The couple was a reminder that every human being is a balance of chaos and beauty. People become so distracted by wealth and lust, they often lose themselves. They needed love to remind them of who they were. They needed a heart to call home and a warm body with a welcoming smile to tell them they had lost their way. They were never the diamond rings or the slicked hair. They were never the money in their bank accounts or the countless dinner parties. They were the head print in their white pillows, the slow dances while listening to Frank Sinatra, and the love they possessed for each other.
         The scandalous evenings with unnamed vagabonds were no longer a concern, they had slowly gravitated back towards each other. There would no longer be whispered goodnight's met with echos of silence. There would no longer be wine glasses filled with abandonment sitting in separate rooms. The odd couple had found the value of the human heart.